Bad Time (To Be In Love)
by CelticWolfman
Summary: What if Eric, and not Kitty, had walked in on Donna and Randy at the end of "Spread Your Wings"? Back from Africa early, and trying to figure out who he is, how will he readjust to Point Place? How will the gang adjust to the new Eric? How will his relationships with Donna, Hyde, Red and Jackie change?
1. Bad Time (To Be In Love)

He figured this would be a nice surprise. When he walked in through the sliding back door, he expected to find his mother in the kitchen. He didn't. In fact, the first person he saw in the house was his dad. Red was coming down the stairs muttering something about the old macramé project that he'd kept in his room as one of the many clandestine places that Hyde used to store his stash around the house. His dad has barely noticed it was him. Eric's "Hey, dad" was answered with a simple "Eric" as though he'd never left.

By the time he'd hit the top floor of the house, he ran into Hyde coming out of his room.

"Hyde!" Eric cheered, seeing his best friend for the first time in months.

"Forman." Hyde deadpanned, similarly to Red but it hit Hyde almost immediately as Eric walked passed him. "Forman!" Hyde doubled back, trying to put himself between Eric and the open door to his bedroom. "When did you get back, man?" Hyde seemed to be shouting just a little bit.

"This morning." Eric answered. "When the country that you're teaching in experiences a tribal uprising, the US Embassy gets you out of there fast."

"You don't say." Hyde nodded slowly. "So, did you fill that bag I gave you or what?"

"Yeah, the Marines weren't too keen on me smuggling that on to the helicopter." Eric laughed a little. "I'll make it up to you."

"Beer?" Hyde nodded upward, his voice still louder than usual.

"Meet you down in the basement?" Eric tried to move around Hyde who slid into his path.

"How about we head down there now, man?" Hyde put a hand on his shoulder to try and turn him around.

"I've been wearing the same clothes for the last 28 hours, I kind of want to change." Eric shook his head. "I'll just meet you down in the basement." When he realized he couldn't stop him anymore, Hyde had to let Eric pass, even as he heard the pounding of Red's boots quickly coming back up the stairs. Hyde didn't need to turn around to know what happened next.

Eric stepped into the doorway of his room to see Donna's back, wrapped in the arms of some guy with girly hair who vaguely resembled a poor man's Andy Gibb. "Donna?" The sight of her making out with another guy in his room elicited something that resembled a whimper from Eric.

"Eric!" Donna jumped out of the guy's arms.

"Eric!" Red ran into the hallway right behind him.

"Eric?" The guy Donna had been kissing seemed to ask.

All at once, Eric felt a torrent of emotion roiling in his chest. Anger came first, touched lightly with hurt and some jealousy. That little voice in the back of his head told him that this was really his fault. He broke up with Donna, who was he to be upset? Still, the anger came first. He bounded into the room and raised his arm like he was going to hit the guy who had been kissing Donna.

Red was faster than his exhausted son. He grabbed Eric from behind and restrained him. Red turned him around and handed him off to Steven. "Get him out of here." Red instructed and Hyde clapped a hard hand on to Eric's shoulder to get him toward the stairs.

The elder Forman turned back into his son's bedroom. Donna hung her head to avoid his gaze. Randy looked nervous, like the kid who's caught trying to unwrap the presents before Christmas Day. "Randy, I think you should go home now." Red's voice was level. His arms were crossed in front of his chest. The younger man slowly dragged his feet across the carpet until he was out of the bedroom. "Of all the dumbass places to make out with your new boyfriend…"

"Mr. Forman, how was I supposed to know Eric was home?" Donna protested, feeling at once guilty and angry in her own right. Eric had hurt her. Eric had broken up with her but she was the one who was going to endure a Red Forman lecture now?

"You knew Kitty was home." Red fired back. "Do you really think she would have taken it better? It's the early afternoon, she hasn't had nearly enough Kahlua yet!"

"He broke up with me." A hard pressure was building up in Donna's chest. She didn't really want to cry but it felt like the only response that fit the moment. "I mean, what was I supposed to do?"

Red just stood there with his arms crossed. Donna had a point. But those two were never going to be able to manage distance. They'd grown up next door to each other. Eric hadn't landed on Okinawa. He'd loved exactly one girl in his life and he had from the time he was very young. Going to Africa was going to change things, it was going to change him. These two had spent as much time running away from each other the last few years as they had spent holding on to each other.

Hyde and Eric only got about halfway down the stairs together before Eric just couldn't take it anymore. He sped up and sprinted down the remaining stairs, through the living room and into the kitchen. Kitty was standing at the counter preparing dinner for that night, accompanied by the presence of an open bottle of Pinot Grigio. She didn't even look up from the oven when Eric breezed past her until he angrily threw the door open.

When Steven came into the kitchen shortly after, Kitty turned to face him. "I could have sworn I just saw Eric. I guess I just have him on my mind."

"Mrs. Forman that was Eric." Hyde pointed over her shoulder to the lanky frame of Eric Forman climbing in behind the wheel of the Vista Cruiser. Kitty hopped up and down a few times clapping her hands together trying to get a handle on her excitement.

"What's he doing home this early?" Kitty squealed

"He said something about a tribal uprising and the US Embassy getting everyone out of the country." Hyde was conscious of the brown paper bag in his back pocket since Red could come down the stairs at any moment.

"Well, why did he go rushing out of here so quickly without even saying hello to his mother?" Kitty sounded incredibly disappointed. It had been months since anyone had seen Eric. Weeks since she'd talked to him.

"He just walked in on Donna kissing Randy upstairs." Hyde's finger went from pointing at the driveway to pointing at the rooftop over their heads. His other hand slapped his thigh before drawing back and pushing the brown paper bag down deep into his pocket.

Kitty's mouth hung open. She knew that Donna had been making eyes at the new boy but she didn't know that it was so serious. Somewhere, deep in her mind, she always felt that Donna would end up with Eric. Even though it seemed like the two of them had some obstacle between them the last little while. "Tramp!" Kitty exclaimed before hating herself just a little bit. "Girls these days. I tell you in my day…"

Before she could finish her sentence, Red came into the kitchen. "Where'd Eric go?"

"He jumped in the Cruiser." Hyde answered.

"You knew he was home?!" Kitty turned on Red.

"I ran into him on the stairs." Red turned his hips back toward the door to the kitchen. "Lucky I did, I had to keep him from throwing a punch at Randy."

"Oh, Eric." Kitty's expression melted into motherly concern. "His heart's in the right place but Randy could have hurt him." Red headed for the door to the driveway to try and head Eric off before he could do something stupid behind the wheel of the Cruiser.

Just as Red got the door open, the Cruiser pulled out of the driveway leaving him standing there.

Behind the wheel, Eric was just lost in his own head. He flipped the radio on to WFPP. With Donna upstairs, there was no worry about hearing her voice coming through the stereo. _"Good evening, guys and gals, this is Vanessa with the Vixen Hour here on WFPP. We're going to dedicate this hour to some of the Vixen's favourite heartbreak songs. First up, a little Grand Funk."_

Sure enough, that Major C chord and Mark Farner's voice were the first two things to come blaring through the radio and Eric Forman could almost feel the universe mocking him.

 _I'm in love with a girl that I'm talkin' about_

 _I'm in love with a girl that I can't live without_

 _I'm in love but I must have picked a bad time_

 _To be in love…_

The same part of Eric that made him a Styx fan gave him a soft spot for some Grand Funk, but why couldn't they play "American Band" or "I'm Your Captain"? His fingers subconsciously drummed on the steering wheel as he tried to think about where in town he was going to go. He wasn't sure that he wanted to see anybody right now, but he also wasn't sure that he wanted to be alone with his thoughts either.

The last piece of mail that he'd gotten before being rushed out of the country was the letter from Jackie and Fez trying to warn him that they thought Donna was cheating on him with some guy named Randy. Well, he guessed, he'd just met Randy. In a way, he wished Red had just let him take a swing at the guy. In some ways, that had been Red at his most Yoda-like. Hate, after all, was not the path of a true Jedi.

He debated going to the Water Town. Hyde would know to find him there. But so would Donna. There probably wasn't a single spot in all of Point Place where Donna wouldn't know where to find him. Trying to avoid her might be pointless. But seeing her wouldn't make things any better right now.

 _All the stories coming back to me_

 _About my friends and the people I don't want to see_

 _The things they say I know just couldn't be true_

 _At least not until I hear it from you_

Then he thought about The Hub. Anyone could find him there but they might not go looking for him there. He might just run into Fez or someone who just wanted to hang out, maybe even someone who was interested in going for a drive for a while. He kind of wished Hyde had come with him, but everyone seemed to have a different place around here now.

Eric just felt lost.

Having his time in Africa cut short by the State Department meant that he would get full credit for going even though he'd been pulled out of the country early. He felt a little desperate right now, still a little raw. Yeah, he'd broken up with Donna but he hadn't expected her to move on so quickly. That letter he'd been sent had been dated just days after he'd broken up with Donna. Had she been seeing Randy even before they'd broken up?

He wondered now if they ever could have made things work. If she'd gone to Madison for school or even to Marquette. Could they have done it? Or would they always be the scrawny little neighbour boy and the hot girl next door? First loves but not lasting.

He pulled into the parking lot outside The Hub and put the car in park. Just as the refrain started pouring in over the radio at the end of the song.

 _You know that I love with the girl that I'm talkin' about_

 _Yeah, I'm in love with a girl that I can't live without_

 _I'm in love but it feels like I'm wearin' it out_

 _I'm in love but it I must have picked a bad time to be in love_

He slammed his palm on the steering wheel, turned the car off and headed into The Hub.


	2. Lonesome Loser

Donna sat at her kitchen table staring down into a cup of tea.

Of course something like this would happen to her. Think of the confluence of events that would need to happen to have the universe burn her like this. A tribal uprising in Africa would have to happen at exactly the right time. The US Embassy would have to evacuate Eric at what seemed to her to be lightning speed. Eric would then have to find a way back from the airport without calling his parents or Hyde or Fez to come and pick him up.

And, of course, Eric would have to walk in just at the moment when she was kissing Randy. There's no way those events could happen in exactly that order to anyone but her.

She didn't want to be sitting here alone. To be totally honest she wanted to scream. Who the hell was Eric to be angry? He broke up with her. He left her behind in Point Place while traipsing off halfway across the world. Did he think she was going to become a damn nun? And who the hell was Red to lecture her? He was the one who supported sending his dumbass son off to Africa. It had been Kitty who had helped her try to get Eric to stay.

But he was probably right, if Kitty had caught them she would have made a more awkward scene - if that's possible – than Eric did. Kitty had a way with guilt whereas Eric would just brood. She wondered where he was now, but only for a second. She didn't want to dwell on it too long. Not for the first time in the last couple years, it seemed like everything was falling apart again.

Donna couldn't help but hope that Jackie would walk into the kitchen. Even Hyde or Fez would be a welcomed presence right now. The door to the house opened behind her and she was greeted by her father's black afro, slightly hunched over as he stuffed his keys back into his pocket. "Hey kitten." Bob grinned warmly at Donna as he dropped a bag of groceries on to the counter. "Why so glum, sugarplum?"

"Dad," Donna took a deep breath. "Eric came home early and he…he walked in on Randy and I kissing." Bob nodded once and it was barely noticeable. He pulled a chair out at the kitchen table and sat across from Donna.

"Donna, before we start talking about this, is this one of those conversations where I'm going to wish I had a Tom Collins?" Bob had a slight pleading look in his eyes undercut with his usual playfulness. Donna couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"Get yourself a drink, Dad." Donna waved at him and Bob got back to his feet.

"You keep talkin', kitten. I'll be done in no time." Bob headed over to the counter and started pulling ingredients out of the cupboards.

"I'm upset." Donna figured she's start off with the simplest declaration. "He broke up with me. But when I saw him today, it was like that kiss broke his heart. Like our break up wasn't real for him until that moment. How did you ever deal with Mom seeing other guys when you guys were separated?"

"I didn't." Bob was blunt. "I always hated watchin' guys take your mom out. It always tore me up inside. Probably still would."

"But you guys aren't together." Donna started to sound even more frustrated. "If you love somebody that much, how can you stand to let them go?"

"Sometimes, honey, ya just don't have a choice." Bob popped a cherry into his glass and a mini umbrella before settling back down at the table. "Listen, you know I haven't exactly been Eric's biggest fan since he left you at the altar."

"Dad, you haven't been Eric's biggest fan since you ran into him at the pharmacy that one time when you ended up picking up my birth control pills." Donna couldn't help but crack a smile. Sure, her friends made fun of her father from time to time for being a little goofy or a little cheesy but no one she knew wore their heart on their sleeve the way Bob did.

Bob allowed himself a small laugh. "We'll call that a hunch." He sipped his drink. "I don't know what Eric wants from you. I don't think he knows. But I think you're too smart to be sticking around waiting for him to try and figure it out. You've done a lot of that already, kitten."

Donna started to nod slowly. "Are you saying that I should just pretend like nothing happened today?"

"Ho-ho-hold on there. I didn't say that." Bob put his hands up in front of him. "Whatever happened today has you as upset as him. All I'm saying is that you're not sixteen any more. There's a big world out there outside of Point Place. Maybe the man of your dreams isn't the boy across the driveway. Maybe it's Randy. Maybe it's someone you've never met yet. Whatever decision you make, just know I'm proud of you, kid."

A warm feeling filled Donna's chest and brought a smile to her face. "What would I ever do without my Daddy?" She leaned across the table and hugged Bob.

"You're the greatest thing I ever did, Donna." He gave her a squeeze. "I know you'll be okay."

A knock came at the door to the kitchen and the creak of the door followed it. Randy Pearson's flowing locks drooped as he peaked around the door. "Can I come in?"

"Sure, kid." Bob nodded and picked up his drink. "You two probably have some talking to do anyway." With a wink at Donna, Bob turned and headed into the den. M*A*S*H would be on in a few minutes. He always loved seeing what crazy schemes Klinger was up to.

"I wasn't sure whether to give you time or try and talk to you." Randy took the seat Bob had been in. "But you always want to talk about things, so…"

"Yeah." Donna let her head bob slowly. "I don't even know what to make of what the hell happened today."

"You literally went from talking about Eric; to kissing me; to having Eric walk in on you kissing me." Randy sighed a little. "I think a lot kind of happened at once there. Would he have actually hit me?"

"It's possible." Donna's lower lip jutted out. "He's taken swings at guys who were interested in me before."

"I think I could have taken him." Randy tried to elbow her playfully but Donna wasn't having it. "This whole thing seems to have kind of screwed everything up for everyone, huh?"

"All the things I've been feeling, the stuff that I was trying to explain to you, it just seemed so much easier to deal with when he was on the other side of the world." Donna strained as the anger she was feeling before her Dad came home started to bubble up again. "But then he shows up and it just all becomes about him again."

Randy leaned forward, his elbows digging into his knees. "It doesn't have to be." There was a temptation on his part here to reach for her hand, but he thought better of it. "I mean, I thought we were starting something pretty good here."

"I thought so, too." Donna admitted limply. "But this whole thing is just so screwed up."

Eric grabbed a hamburger and some fries from the counter at The Hub. WFPP was playing behind the counter for the staff working in the kitchen. That was one thing that he missed over in Africa, the greasy burgers and over salted fries of The Hub. He crashed in their usual booth against the wall next to the restrooms and just started poking idly at the fries.

He had no idea what he expected from Donna when he got back. He hasn't given it any thought. Until a couple days ago, he was supposed to have four more months in Africa. He was hoping to use that time to sort it out. So much for that idea. The last time that he felt this alone, he'd been thirteen and Red had caught him with a copy of National Geographic.

The Hub was fairly empty tonight. That was probably to be expected for a Monday in the middle of November. He was trying to ignore the dim background rhythm of radio that seemed to be trying to pervade the whole of The Hub. Of course, when he'd get in the car the first DJ he heard would be playing heartbreak songs.

There were just certain things in your life that you couldn't envision life without. For him, Donna was just one of those things. There weren't too many of them in his life. He figured that learning to do without those things was sort of like the trials that Jedi Padawan learners were put through. He'd spent the last seven-plus months doing without his family. But he always knew they'd be there when he got home. His mom never let him forget that one.

His friends would be here when he got back. His mom had written him about Kelso moving to Chicago to work security at the Playboy Club. When we was behind the wheel of the Cruiser just now he had thought about heading down the 94 to Chicago to see if he could crash with Kelso for a few days. But he didn't have the cash for any kind of stay in Chicago. Lucky for him, the food at The Hub was not only a guilty pleasure, but damn cheap.

 _"Hey there, all you Dairy Staters."_ The radio chimed in once again. _"It's Vanessa and the Vixen Hour once again invading your ears and playing on your fears as we do our salute to heartbreak tonight. This next track is hot. It's burning up our charts here at WFPP since it debuted in July. Let's play one for all you lonesome losers out there."_

This was the first time he'd really listened to Top 40 radio since he left last spring. He had no idea what the new hit songs were but when he heard that first harmony, it caused him to roll his eyes. Oh man, not the Little River Band. Even at their best they were terrible. There was nothing he wanted more right now than to find a way not to end up listening to a breakup song by the Little River Band.

 _Have you heard about the Lonesome Loser?  
Beaten by the Queen of Hearts every time.  
Have you heard about the Lonesome Loser?  
He's a loser but he still keeps on trying._

This really isn't helping, Eric thought. It wasn't like he wanted to feel sorry for himself. He could go to school now. He could become a teacher. He wouldn't be able to enroll at UW until the fall. So, whatever was going on right now had a definite end date.

 _Sit down, take a look at yourself  
Don't you want to be somebody?  
Someday somebody's gonna see inside  
You have to face up, you can't run and hide._

Okay, this can really stop now. He didn't need the constant radio reminders of the parts of his life that felt like they were falling apart.

The chimes rang above the door of The Hub and always slightly rumpled figure of his best friend coming over to sit with him. "Did my mom send you to come bring me home?"

"Nah, man." Hyde pulled out a chair to sit across from Eric. "I just figured nobody needs to see their girlfriend making out with a man pretty enough to be a chick as the first thing they see when they get home."

"How long has this been going on, man?" Eric wanted to cut right to the point. There was a feeling of betrayal hanging around in his head.

"A while." Hyde shrugged. "Felt like they were circling each other for a while before that. Like a couple of dogs in the park. I don't know what the heck I'm going to do with the record store, man. I can't look at the kid every day."

"He works for you?!" Eric wanted to bolt to his feet. "Is there any part of my life this guy didn't try to take?"

 _"It's okay." he smiles and says  
But this loneliness is driving him crazy.  
He don't show what goes on in his head  
But if you watch very close you'll see it all_

"I couldn't just leave the store to Leo." Hyde laughed to himself. "I did that for a weekend once this year, I came back to a Hare Krishna circle on my floor and sitar music."

Eric couldn't help laughing at that image. To be sure, it was classic Leo. "But, you're my best friend, man. How could you?"

"Needed the help." Hyde tipped the chair just slightly on to its back legs. "Also Leo managed to get us some pretty good stuff and I think I hired him in the circle."

"Well, that explains it then." Eric dug into his hamburger. "Hyde, man, what am I gonna do about Donna?"

"Forman, I don't know if there's anything you can do." Hyde brought the chair back down. "This place has changed since you left, man. Just wanting Donna back doesn't mean you're gonna get her. She might have moved on. This kid ain't Casey Kelso."

 _Have you heard about the Lonesome Loser?  
Now tell me have you heard about the Lonesome Loser?_

"I suppose you're gonna tell me that my mom would like me to come home pretty soon?" Eric sounded a little resigned.

"She did say something as I was heading out." Hyde grinned a little bit. "I also can't say no to your mom."

There was a heavy pause that hung up between them. Eric had had enough of thinking about this for the night and badly wanted to talk about anything else.

"So, what's it like being married to a stripper?" Eric let out a soft laugh and the smile on Hyde's face grew wider.


	3. Blue Collar Man

The last seven months in Africa had gotten Eric used to waking up early. He was sure that he was downstairs before Red was this morning. Years of having breakfast ready by the time he hit the kitchen had been erased over just a few month. He popped a couple pieces of bread into the toaster and pulled some jam and orange juice out of the fridge. There was an odd kind of piece about being up before the rest of the house.

He stood there at the counter staring out the sliding door. Staring across the driveway the way he had for so much of his teenage years thinking about the girl on the other side of the hedge. This time he wasn't fantasizing or daydreaming about her. He was just trying to figure out how this was going to resolve itself.

Behind Eric, the door to the kitchen swung open and his father walked in with the paper under his arm. "Eric?" Red sounded shocked. "It's six in the morning. Did you not go to sleep last night?"

"No, Dad." Eric spread the jam over his toast. "In the village I was working in, everyone was up before the sun. I just learned how to be."

"Well, good!" Red cheered sarcastically. "Now the early bird won't have to put his foot in your ass."

Eric just started laughing. He didn't really know why. Ever since he hit high school, Red's seemingly constant threats to somehow drive his foot into his ass inspired terror. But it felt like it had just been so long that hearing it this morning created a strange, warm, comforting feeling.

"What's so damn funny?" Red stood over the coffee maker.

"It's just," Eric paused. "Do you realize how long it's been since you threatened to put your foot in my ass?"

"Yeah." Even Red had to smile fondly at that. "You even miss weird things, don't you?"

"You know, Dad, when they evacuate you from the country, it's not like they just call you up and tell you to go to an airport." Eric took a seat at the kitchen table. "The Marines came in and evacuated us. We were literally airlifted from the embassy to an aircraft carrier and then taken to Germany. From there, the State Department got us to the Frankfort airport."

"Sounds like you've finally got a story to tell." Red tipped the pot and poured himself a cup of coffee. "Bet that gave you some thinking to do."

"Actually, it made me think of you." Eric took a bite. "Those Marines weren't messing around when they came and got us. It really gave me a new appreciation for what you did in the War."

"Well, that's nice, Eric." Red settled into his chair and unfurled his paper. "Except I was dodging Japanese machine gun fire not rescuing a bunch of lost tourists." He stared up from the paper. "I assume you still plan on becoming a teacher. What are you going to do until you go to school next year?"

"I'm going to find a job." Eric's answer was simple. "Africa only covered my tuition. I'm still going to need money. I know it's a recession but hopefully with Christmas coming up, there'll be a few places hiring."

His son seemed a little calmer than he had when he left. Less twitchy. "Well, if I need you for a few hours here and there at the muffler shop, I hope I can count on you."

"Absolutely, yeah." Eric nodded as he finished his breakfast.

"Good." Red dove back into his paper. These were the kind of conversations that he had with his father. There were times when he wondered why Red didn't try to talk more. When he felt that a father's guidance, something a little more empathetic than a grunt and a sarcastic comment, might actually be helpful.

"Dad, about Donna," Eric decided to test Red just a little before his Mom came downstairs and involved herself in every sentence. Red folded his paper and with a slightly irritated expression looked over the table at Eric. "Dad, what do I do?"

Rather than answer immediately, Red let a hard exhale out through his nose and stared down into the coffee cup. "I don't know. I used to hit guys that so much as looked at your mother. If I'd walked in on what you did yesterday…At the same time, you did the dumbass thing and broke up with her, so I don't know what you want. This is the third time you've walked away from Donna. I wouldn't have walked away from your mother more than once."

Red dove back into his paper. That was the most profound Eric had heard his father sound in quite a while. There was more going on with Donna than Red had dealt with but it was typical of Red only to deal with the stuff he saw. Mostly to avoid getting into the mushy stuff. The mushy stuff was Kitty's department. Eric took his plate over to the sink and rinsed it off. He caught himself staring out the window again at the driveway, just as the sun started to peak over the garage.

He thought about his conversation with Hyde last night. Sure, there was probably going to be an awkward conversation at Grooves today when Randy showed up at work. He had no idea where Donna or the rest of the gang would be. Hanging out at Grooves seemed like a bad idea until later in the day, maybe after he'd going around looking at some of the "Help Wanted" signs that would be up for the Christmas season. Maybe if he busted his hump, he could turn one of those gigs into something that could carry him through the spring.

The door to the kitchen open behind him but he didn't even hear it until it was too late. The first sign that he had that his mother was in the kitchen was her sneaking up behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist to give him a hug. "You're not allowed to leave, ever, ever again." Kitty insisted and Eric just smile and absent-mindedly tapped her hands with his own as a return gesture of affection. "Have you eaten already?"

"Just some toast and orange juice." Eric tried to wriggle out of Kitty's grasp.

"Oh, honey, you're already so thin." Kitty let him turn around to face her. Let me make you some pancakes or something. She was insistent but Eric just didn't feel that hungry.

"I think I'm just going to hit the pavement early and try and find some work." Eric slowly moved toward the door.

"No, honey." Kitty shook her head. "You just got home. You should take some time and rest. You haven't been home in seven months. Red, say something."

"I agree with Eric." Red set the paper on the table.

"What?!" Kitty almost sprang out of her slippers.

"Really?" Eric's eyebrows almost shot into his hairline.

"Kitty, he's not a kid anymore." Red explained. "He has to put the pieces of his life together. It seems like he wants to. Now, I think that if he wants to get out there early, he should. It'll be good for him mostly because if he thinks he's sleeping until noon anymore then my foot is going to be using his ass for a pillow."

Before his mom could protest, Eric was almost out the back door. Then everyone heard the soft padding of bare feet across the kitchen floor. Sam had come up from the basement wearing precious little and causing enough of a distraction for Red and Kitty for Eric to slip out quietly.

He hopped in the Cruiser, stuck they key in the ignition and fired the old boat up. He took the first song on WFPP as a good sign for the day. He was kicking things off with a little Styx.

 _Make me an offer that I can't refuse  
Make me respectable, man  
This is my last time in the unemployment line  
So like it or not I'll take those_

 _Long nights, impossible odds  
Keeping my back to the wall  
If it takes all that to be just what I am  
Well, I'm gonna be a blue collar man_

The teenagers didn't show up at Grooves until lunch. Seniors that were skipping out on afternoon classes usually found the record store to be a pretty popular haunt. Hyde always opened the store and most days just hoped that he didn't find Leo crashing on the couch when he did. Newest inventory had to go out on the shelves. As much as he hated selling out, selling the stuff that the teenage girls bought gave him the freedom to sell the stuff that he liked.

With Thanksgiving coming up next week, he was planning to have WFPP live in the store on the Friday to try and really drive traffic into the store. Both Donna and Vanessa from the radio station had agreed to do their shows live from Grooves which pretty much meant that he'd have the broadcast from 3pm on. It also meant that he was going to need people in here selling records.

So, dealing with the blowback from last night was going to be trickier than he thought, but he tried to channel his Zen. The first person through the door was Leo, looking his usual confused self. "Hey Leo, man, what did you get up to yesterday?"

"It was crazy, man." Leo stopped in front of the counter. "I was in Milwaukee and I saw this guy who looked just like your friend Eric. He was looking for a ride back here and I let him jump in with me, man."

"Wait a minute, you saw a guy who looked like Eric yesterday?" Hyde stopped counting the float in the till. "And you gave him a ride back to town?"

"Yeah, man. It was weird, too, because he knew my name." Leo tilted his head. "He told me not to tell anyone where was which was cool by me, man, because I didn't know where I was either."

Hyde started to laugh. "Go into the back and open up the shipment from yesterday, man. We gotta get that Aerosmith stuff on to the floor." W.B. was planning to spend Thanksgiving with him at the Forman's place. In fact, it promised to be kind of a full table this year. The Pinciottis always showed up at the Formans for dessert. He'd be there with W.B. and Sam. Eric was back. They weren't Norman Rockwell or anything, but that was boring anyway.

Randy walked into the store just then and Hyde had never seen the pretty boy look quite so defeated. His shoulders hung slumped, his hair looked like he hadn't showered and his clothes looked like they'd been slept in. "Hey, man." Randy sort of half-whispered.

"Hey." Hyde stuck his thumbs in his belt loops.

"So, this is kind of awkward, huh?" Randy straightened up a little. "Do I even still work here?"

"Dude, I can't fire you for making out with Donna." Hyde didn't change the tone of his voice even a little. He didn't want to pretend he had a real plan for what was going to happen here. "If I could, I would have done that weeks ago."

"So, are we cool or not?" Randy sounded uneasy.

"You work here." Hyde clarified the situation. "And you will for a while. As for whether we're friends? I don't know, man. Forman's my best friend. Forman and his family, they've done things for me that my own parents never did. You weren't here the last time they broke up, man. Things got ugly. The kind of ugly you only see with fresh roadkill."

"But I can still pick up my shifts?" Randy just wanted to clear things up.

"Yeah, man." Hyde nodded. "Go help Leo unload the Aerosmith stuff that we got yesterday."

"You know, for what it's worth," Randy headed toward the back of the store before turning around. "They were broken up, man."

"Dude, I really don't want to have this conversation." Hyde shut the cash register drawer. "Let's just stick with the fact that you still work here and leave it at that. Whatever's between you and Donna and Forman is between you and Donna and Forman."

The door to the stock room swung open and Randy disappeared through it. That was cold, man. Not quite as cold as he thought it would be. He was almost sure last night that he was going to be firing Randy this morning but it was only when he actually took a look at things this morning that he decided to let him keep his job until whatever was going on actually blew up.

And eventually it would. It always did. Forman might seem a little different this time. He was. He held up a little bit. He was a little more reserved than before he'd left. Sure, when he stumbled on Donna and Randy last night, he'd wanted to kill him. But later, at The Hub, Forman seemed aloof. Like he had a bunch of things on his mind and this was just one of them.

But sooner or later, this was going to blow up. That was true whether Randy worked at Grooves or not.

Eric had made copies of his resume and dropped them off at a number of stores in the mall well before noon. He started debating whether it was worth heading home or heading over to the Muffler shop to see if his Dad needed some help. As he made a turn around the fountain and headed for the parking lot he heard a familiar, cheerful voice call his name over his shoulder. "Eric!"

He turned and came face to face with his old chemistry lab partner Shelly. "Hey Shelly, it's nice to see you." He forced a grin, not that he had to try too hard. It had been a couple years but she looked pretty much exactly as she had at 17.

"Nice to see you." She smiled at him. "I heard that you'd gone off to Africa on some kind of missionary work or something."

"Yeah, I was going to teach for a year." Eric answered. "I just got back yesterday."

"Well, what are you doing wandering around the mall?" Shelly tilted her head just so, like she was examining him.

"I don't head to school for almost a year and because my stay in Africa got cut short, I'm looking for work to make some money for school before I head off." Eric was never sure how to have these conversations with people he went to high school with.

"So, you're looking for work?" Her eyes went wide for a second and then her smile got very wide. It didn't take a genius to see the gears in her head turning. "I have an idea, it's a little unorthodox, though."

"At this point, if it doesn't involve donating blood and I can keep my clothes on, I'm willing to consider it." Eric tried for a joke and was rewarded with a little nervous laughter.

"No, my mom's the general manager at the Department Store and she put me in charge of the Holiday festivities." Shelly explained. "She wanted us to get a full time Santa this year and she doesn't want it to be one of the old guy volunteers who usually do it because she says too many of them come back from break smelling like bourbon. Also, when we had a few different old guy volunteers, the kids from divorced families would come back twice and see a Santa that was half a foot shorter than the one they met last week."

"You want me, a guy who's nineteen and like a hundred and fifty pounds soaking wet to play Santa Claus?" Eric couldn't believe the offer was real.

"Well, we have a belly pad, wig and beard. No one will ever know." She explained. "Besides, it'll pay alright and you'll get an employee discount on your Christmas presents if you buy them at the store." It was obvious from the way she spoke that she really wanted him to do it. "Come on, Eric. You'll get to work with me. In addition to running the store's Christmas activities, I'll also play Mrs. Claus at Santa's workshop once in a while."

"It's the best offer I've had all day." Eric answered. "When do I start?"


	4. You're Only Lonely

Donna was sitting alone in the booth at WFPP near the end of her shift. It was two days since Eric had come home. Two days since she'd last seen him. Two days since the only thing she did was scream his name in surprise. It had also been two days since she last saw Randy. He walked into her kitchen, spoke to her and then seemed to just disappear. He called her yesterday just to tell her that he still had his job at the record store. But things over there seemed to have gotten a little chilly since.

She ran a hand through her hair. That last two days felt like the beginning of the Cold War. She had Randy and her Dad in her corner. Eric had his parents and Hyde. That one felt like a real loss. She figured Hyde would always be a friend – a close friend. No one seemed to have seen Fez in a couple days. Kelso was still in Chicago. Jackie had talked to her over the phone but hadn't dropped by yet.

Her show was on right after Jerry Thunder did drive time. Max still hung around the station at this time of night – mostly to avoid his wife. Vanessa would be in pretty soon to set for her _Vixen Hour_ show that followed _Hot Donna_ on the schedule. Max told her that given _Hot Donna_ trailed only Jerry Thunder as far as the station's ad revenue went, it only made sense to build on something that was working. Imitation, she told herself, was the sincerest form of flattery.

"You don't look that enthused about ending your shift." Max stuck his head into the booth. "No big plans for that night. That kid who looks pretty enough to be one of my daughters isn't going to come by and take you out?"

Donna laughed and hung her head for a second. "Surprisingly, no." She tapped the eraser of her pencil on the desk. "Hey Max, tell me something. When do boys stop being cowards?"

"Usually," Max took another step into the booth. "When someone has scared the hell out of them and they've got nowhere to turn." He gave Donna a quick smile and went to turn out of the booth before pausing and turning back. "Or when they stop listening to Styx and start listening to Springsteen."

Donna laughed. It was hard not to think about the men in her life and the boys in her life and wonder when some of them would start to make the transition. She wondered when Randy would stop pretending everything was some kind of big joke or some kind of game that he could play. She wondered when Eric would finally give up the G.I. Joes and the X-Wing Fighters. To this point, the two guys who had done the most growing up had been Kelso and Hyde. Probably the two that you least would have bet on.

Sure, in most ways, Hyde was the same old Hyde. But having to go in and manage the store every day had grounded him. In some ways, it kind of reminded her of her Dad when he was younger. That wasn't a comparison she figured Hyde would love. But they could both be a little goofy. In different ways, of course. But when her Dad owned Bargain Bob's, he always got out of bed and got his butt into work. He didn't let people down.

And Kelso…well, having Betsy, graduating from the police academy and moving to Chicago, he'd definitely gotten beyond the guy who annually fell off the water tower. What was it Max said about getting the hell scared out of you and having nowhere to run? Was there a better description of Kelso after he found out that Brooke was pregnant?

The song spun to its end and Donna took over at the mic again. "That was _"Good Girls Don't"_ by the Knack. And as I like to say when I hear that tune, just because good girls don't doesn't mean that I'm a good girl." Donna let her voice drop just a little at the end of that flirtation. "I've got one more song for you before _Vanessa's Vixen Hour_ takes over at the top of the hour. Isn't that a great show? I really think Vanessa puts together some of the sexiest soundtracks you'll hear on radio anywhere. It's music to love somebody to."

Donna smiled through the glass of the booth at her co-worker who just walked in. In spite of the fact that Vanessa tried to melt the microphone, she didn't dress like she was some kind of temptress and, for that, she got Donna's respect. "It doesn't matter what I'm actually wearing." Vanessa would say, sometimes while wearing a baggy Milwaukee Bucks sweatshirt. "It matters what I can make the guy behind the wheel _think_ I'm wearing."

"Here's J.D. Souther with a hot hit this week and _'You're Only Lonely'."_ Donna popped the headphones off and stepped out of the booth, running he fingers through her hair in an attempt to unflatten it. "Hey, Vanessa."

"Hey, Donna." Vanessa chimed in as she dug her set list for the night out of her purse. "I liked your riff on The Knack. Nice take." Vanessa eyes her list. "I love this song, don't you?"

"You like this song?" Donna sounded a little shocked. It wasn't something that she expected to hear from the girl whose show took over at 9pm.

"It's a great crier." Vanessa smiled reflectively in a kind of sad way. "One of those songs that, if you hear it too late at night or right after you've gotten off the phone with someone you really miss or you really want to say something to and you chicken out."

"I'm not sure that the greatest crying songs in Rock'n'Roll is a good theme for The Vixen Hour." Donna chuckled just a little. "I don't know I like great breakup songs, too but this one…"

"It's a good burn." Vanessa sucked a cold breath between her teeth. "Sometimes, you gotta love a good, slow burn."

 _When the world is ready to fall on your little shoulders  
And, when you're feeling lonely and small,  
You need somebody there to hold you;  
You can call out my name_

 _When you're only lonely_

Donna walked out of the station and saw Randy leaning back on the hood of his car with his hands stuffed rigidly into the pockets of his jacket. He clearly had WFPP playing in the car and it was still running as he waited for her. She wondered if she'd ever stop looking at him in moments like this and stop seeing Eric. Tepidly, she walked over and came face to face with him.

"I didn't expect to see you out here." She admitted with a little hesitance.

"I was literally driving by right when you started playing this song." Randy shifted uncomfortably. "Figured if I didn't take that as a sign then I wasn't ever going to get one."

"Haven't seen you in a couple days." Donna folded her arms in front of her chest.

"In the last couple of days, I've lost a lot of friends and barely held on to my job." Randy avoided her gaze. "I wasn't exactly on what you'd call a winning streak."

"Yeah, but those are the times when we're supposed to talk and be there for each other." Donna pressed him just a little harder.

"To be honest, I didn't figure that there was much runway left for us." Randy shrugged. "Ever since Eric came back, you just seem kind of distant. There's too much going on there."

"So what? You just want to give up on me?" Donna accused, starting to feel a little bit of what Vanessa was trying to explain about this song rise in her chest. "On us?"

"I just don't think I want to hang around and see if you get back together with Eric or not." Randy stood up straight and sort of his angled his body back toward the driver's side door. He waited for Donna to say something. She waited for something to come to mind. But she couldn't sum up the situation any better than he just had.

In the silence, Randy felt like he had his answer. He opened the driver's side door to his car and slid in behind the wheel. As the car pulled away, Donna thought once again of Max's words. When does a boy become a man? When he's got the hell scared out of him and nowhere else to turn.

Randy turned. Again.

 **BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW**

Even the Star Wars geek in Eric never thought he'd say this: but it was a long day helping interview elves. While he was locked in to play Santa and Shelly was locked in to play Mrs. Claus when she wasn't working on other Christmas events at the store. But they still needed some elves for Santa's workshop to take the pictures and hand out the candy canes. Unlike his gig as Santa, the Elves were part-time. Some of them were high school girls or community college students.

He plodded down the outside stairs to the basement and threw the door open. When he stepped into the basement, he found Jackie lounging on the couch watching _Donohue._ She was another person that he hadn't seen since he'd gotten back to Wisconsin. "Jackie." Eric tossed his jacket over Fez's chair near the door. "What are you doing here?"

"When I sit around my apartment, I'm just reminded of all the things I don't have." Jackie answered. "Over here, I feel like I get to hide."

Eric sat down next to her on the couch. "I know what you mean. In the last few days, I've had to be evacuated from a country by the US Marines; I've walked in on a woman I once thought was the love of my life kissing another guy and I need a job to get through the next few months until I go off to school."

Jackie stuck out her lower lip, slightly impressed by Eric's run of bad luck before deciding she could beat it. "Yeah, well, I had my boyfriend run off to Vegas and marry a stripper; I got my dream job at Wake Up Wisconsin before being fired because my boss turned out to be a witch; my father is in prison; my mother is in Mexico and to top it all off, today Fez tried to offer me a job at the salon as the girl who sweeps the hair."

"Okay." Eric paused. "Yeah, you win."

"At least I finally win something." Jackie gave a rueful chuckle. Silence hung between them. It was only kind of companionable. He wasn't sure if the reason that they said nothing was because they had nothing to say or if it was because what they had to say to each other was too awkward to get out. "So, uh, are you going to take the job?"

"I can't think of anything that I'd hate more." Jackie crossed her arms and huffed. "I know so many women who go to that salon. Pretty women, rich women and the idea that they'd see me sweeping…"

"But you need a job, right?" Eric gulped and turned to face her.

"Yeah, but does it have to be this one?" Jackie couldn't really express the amount of disappointment she felt.

"Um, so I might be able to help." Eric was tepid. "Keep in mind, it'd only be part time and I'm just saying you should come in and apply for it."

"Yeah, yeah whatever Eric, what is it?" Jackie suddenly seemed slightly more enthusiastic.

"Well, you know the department store at the mall?" Eric decided that the roundabout way was the best way to approach this one. Jackie nodded along. "So, I kind of got a job there a couple days ago…as the store Santa for Christmas."

"Ha!" Jackie threw her head back revealing a full horseshoe of glistening white teeth. "You? You barely weigh more than I do."

"It's called a belly pad and I actually look good in it." Eric's eyes got wide.

"So, how do I fit into this picture?" Jackie was curious. "Or do I even want to know?" Then she suddenly started thinking about all the ways he could possibly answer that question. "Please tell me that they need a new girl at the counter in perfume or cosmetics."

"Not exactly." Eric suddenly felt an urge to move out of screaming range. "I need elves at Santa's workshop."

"You want me to be an elf?" Jackie's look of disbelief was almost comical. "Like pointy ears and Christmas carols?"

"Well, there's no singing." Eric tried to explain sarcastically. "And I've seen the costume, the only pointy thing is your shoes and they're really more curled than pointy."

She thought about it for a second. Anyone she ever saw doing this job always looked happy. They were always smiling and enjoying themselves. No one ever looked down on them. It was almost like people thought they were doing a community service by helping set the Christmas atmosphere in Point Place. Besides, a part of her wanted to see Eric in a Santa Claus costume.

"What does this pay?" Jackie asked.

"Actually it's better than you'd think and we get a bonus if the store makes its sales target by Christmas Eve." Eric explained as he slid away from her, turned and sat up on the arm of the couch. "We also get an in-store discount for Christmas so…"

"Less expensive shopping is a major selling point." Jackie grinned but only a little, like she was afraid to admit that she was enjoying this. She could tell that a little part of Eric was enjoying this as well. "So, I just walk in there tomorrow and tell them that I'm interested in becoming an elf?"

"You remember Shelly Wessler from High School?" Eric had a slight glint of mischief in his eye. "She's running everything Christmas for the store, just talk to her. I'm sure that she'll give you the job."

That last bit of information caught Jackie off guard. A blind person could see that Shelly had a thing for Eric when the two of them were lab partners in high school. A part of her wondered if, given what happened with Donna, that was a part of Eric's reason for taking the job. But that wasn't Eric. He was almost oblivious to Shelly's attention until she put the moves on him in school. The Eric she knew was probably silently stewing over what happened with Donna and would for a while.

"You actually want to work with me?" That was the final question that she kind of wanted answered.

"You should have seen the elves that I spent the day helping interview." Eric laughed nervously, hoping to brush off the serious question about what he actually wanted. "You'd be a major improvement on any of them."

It didn't escape Jackie's notice that he didn't exactly answer the question. "Eric, I asked you if you actually wanted to work with me."

"I don't think I would have suggested it if I didn't want to." Eric tried to stay as blindly non-committal as he could. His attention turned to the radio, playing lowly in the background. He heard Donna's voice as she introduced the next song.

" _I've got one more song for you before Vanessa's Vixen Hour takes over at the top of the hour. Isn't that a great show? I really think Vanessa puts together some of the sexiest soundtracks you'll hear on radio anywhere. It's music to love somebody to. Here's J.D. Souther with a hot hit this week and 'You're Only Lonely'."_

"Listen, Jackie…" Eric let his voice drift for a second. "When I was in Africa, I thought about the goodbye moments that really surprised me. Like Red giving me his knife. And I didn't expect you to call before I left. I figured that I was always the twitchy guy you liked to insult and you were the bratty, screeching girl I tried to ignore."

"Yeah, well…" Jackie let out a hard breath all her own. "I remembered something Leo told us that Christmas when you were trying to direct the play at the Church. He said something about how you were the only one of us with a real moral core. I guess it wasn't until I thought Steven abandoned me that I realized how rare that is in guys."

The look in Eric's eyes softened. "I'm worried we might actually be becoming friends."

"I won't tell anyone if you don't, Santa Claus." Jackie smiled again.

 _When you need somebody around on the nights that try you  
I was there when you were a queen  
And I'll be the last one there beside you  
So you can call out my name_

 _When you're only lonely_


	5. I Need a Lover

**A/N: So, I generally try to avoid episodic rewrites but here, I didn't think it was avoidable because while this is AU, Eric's earlier reappearance wouldn't impact externalities that he had nothing to do with. Sam's marriage is one of those things, there's no reason Eric would change that at all. So, I felt it had to be dealt with.**

The gang had gathered in Eric's basement. In a lot of ways, it was their first attempt to sort of overcome the awkwardness. Eric was perched up on the deep freeze, Hyde was in front of him in his usual chair, Fez was across the room in his usual chair and Jackie was seated on the couch with Donna. Still, Eric and Donna hadn't really spoke. A nod here, a polite wave or a smirk to then follow.

"Can Turkeys fly?" Fez asked, staring at the television.

"Nope." Hyde's arms were crossed in front of his chest.

"So, Mr. Carlson is going to end up…" Fez let his voice trail off.

"Yup." Hyde nodded.

"Ai, no." Fez's look of concern was almost priceless. Thanksgiving was only days away. And though he'd never tell anyone else in the gang this, Hyde was actually looking forward to it. Mrs. Forman was a hell of a cook and she always pulled out all the stops for the big dinners, particularly when she knew that she'd have a full house.

A knock came at the door to the basement and Fez turned around to open the door. "Hello." Fez eyed the middle aged gentleman suspiciously. The guy stepped through the open door and into the basement. Hyde got to his feet.

"Is Samantha here?" The guy put his hands on his hips and looked around

"Who the hell are you?" Hyde felt something start to twist in his gut. Sure, he and Sam fought. All married couples did. Mr. and Mrs. Forman fought, although Red usually got out of the house as quickly as possible.

"I'm her husband." The old guy said as Sam came walking out of Hyde's room under the stairs. "Sam!"

"Larry?!" Sam wailed as her eyes almost shot out of her head.

"Hey, this guy just said he was your husband which is a little off-putting, because I'm your husband." Hyde pointed across the room.

"I can explain this." Sam took a breath and looked down at the floor for a second. "You're both my husband."

"This might be better than _All My Children._ " Jackie whispered to Donna on the couch.

"So, when you and I got married, you were already married to another guy?" Hyde was pissed and he couldn't even try to hide it.

"Sort of." Sam gnawed on her lower lip and fidgeted with her fingers.

"Sort of?" Eric couldn't help himself. "Is that like being sort of dead?"

"Forman…" There was a warning in Hyde's voice.

"Sorry." Eric focused on the conversation that was happening. As much as it felt a little slimy and voyeuristic to watch this happen, he couldn't tear himself away.

"When you say 'I do', you mean I do want to marry you." Hyde's voice got louder. "Not I do already have another husband."

Sam was obviously hurt. Her eyes started to water. "Look, Hyde." She put her hands on his chest. "Larry was a regular at the club and one day he asked me to marry him. He said he'd rent me an apartment and buy me a Camaro. What was I supposed to say?"

"How about 'No, you creepy eighty year-old loser!'?" Hyde was shouting now.

"Hey, nobody talks to Larry Lennan like that." The older man tried to put on some bravado but Sam shut him down.

"Shut up, Larry!" She peered over her shoulder. Turning back to Hyde, her lower lip trembled slightly. "Then I met you and fell in love. I figured if we just left town, I'd never see him again."

"Luckily for me, you kept using my credit card." Larry interjected. "Which expires in a month. Got you a new one!"

"Shut up, Larry." Hyde and Eric shouted at the same time.

"So, if she was married to him, before she was married to you…" Donna stepped in. "Then you guys aren't even legally married."

 **BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW**

Eric and Jackie had to go into the store for the last time before they'd take their jobs on Friday in Santa's workshop. The store was really going to put a lot of effort into dominating the Christmas shopping scene in Point Place this year. After seeing Jackie show up and ask if she could be an elf, Shelly Wessler hired her almost on the spot. They were going to use everyone who would be staffing the workshop once it was ready to set it up.

Santa's chair was a reupholstered wingback that was a couple seasons old and had lingered on ever since in the store's stock room. The fake snow at the workshop would be an unbelievable amount of cotton balls scattered around the base of the wooden façade of a fake rustic log cabin workshop with candy cane eaves-troughs.

Eric and Jackie were busy laying the red carpets from the photo line up to Santa's chair and then the carpet would run down to the Elf station where the child would get a candy cane. "Can you believe Sam was married before Steven?" Jackie didn't even look up at Eric as she asked the question.

"Well, she was a stripper." Eric paused for a second. "Not just that, a Vegas stripper."

"What was he thinking?" Jackie shook her head. "And yet, I still feel bad for him, you know?

"Yeah, I know." Eric turned back over and sort of lazily sat on one hip on the floor. "As weird as it was, he actually seemed kind of happy. I gotta say, I don't think my mom will be sad if this is the end of Sam."

"What's with all these relationships falling apart lately?" Jackie sounded exhausted. "I mean Steven and I were first, then you and Donna. Now, Donna and Randy and Steven and Sam all in like one week. I mean, I'm glad that I'm still young and pretty, still a chance at happily ever after, ya know?"

"After Kelso and Hyde, I would have thought that you'd given up by now." Eric laughed as he went back to work. "I mean, there are only so many frogs that you can kiss in Point Place."

"Maybe I've got to stop kissing frogs." Jackie laughed a little at the description. "I want men to be things that they aren't. I wanted Michael to be a nice guy who would provide for me, work hard and wouldn't cheat on me."

"Kelso is a nice guy." Eric offered. "In the same way a stray dog is though, I guess."

"And Steven." Jackie sighed. "I just wanted a commitment from him. I kept hoping that he was the kind of guy who was ready to grow up. And he kept telling me that he wasn't. It turns out he was, just not with me."

"Well, I don't know if that's true." Eric finished laying the carpet and walked over to the wooden façade of the workshop.

"Eric, Steven runs his own business." Jackie came over and stood next to him. "He got married to Sam in Vegas and didn't immediately get divorced. But it's more than that. It's like every time we had a fight, he couldn't wait to move on from me."

"Yeah, but I was also there when he begged you not to break up with him." Eric had a somewhat poignant look in his eye that startled her. It was a way for her to tell that at the bottom of it all, he was a real romantic. He believed he'd seen something real between her and Steven and he was willing to defend it. "It's not easy to get there with somebody."

"Do you think you'll ever forgive Donna?" She stared up at him.

"I already forgive her." Eric tapped on the wood with his finger. "The question I'm trying to answer is whether I'm finally over her."

"She was your first love." Jackie sounded wistful. "She was your only love. I don't think I've ever even seen you look at another woman for anything more than a second." She stopped and thought for a second. "You're actually a lot like Mr. Forman that way."

"And that…" Eric raised a finger and faced Jackie. "Is the first time anyone has ever said that." At that moment, Shelly came by to take a look at how the work was progressing.

"Looks good you two." She beamed a smile at Eric. "You look deep in thought there, Santa."

"I was just thinking." Eric turned back toward the workshop. "What if we cut a window out of the front of the workshop and positioned one of the reindeer behind it so their head was sticking out of it?"

Shelly thought for a second before looking very impressed. "Can you do that? I don't want to have to call the carpenter again. I'm already over budget on the set."

"Yeah, if we've got the right saw, a pencil and a square, I can probably do it." Eric nodded.

"I'm going to run over to the maintenance department and see if we have those things." Shelly applauded happily, gave Eric a hug and ran off.

"Since when can you use a saw?" Jackie looked skeptical.

"The village I was living in, in Africa," Eric gave out a groan as he snuck behind the workshop. "When someone was fixing a house, the whole village was fixing a house. Trust me, I made straight cuts with things that were a lot less safe than a saw."

She was impressed. There were things about Eric that were different than they were before he left. There were things that were more, well, Red-like. "What do you think you're looking for in a girl?"

"Honestly?" Eric shouted over the workshop so that Jackie could hear him. "Somebody who wants the things that I want in life. Every time Donna and I would talk about the future, it was like we wanted different things and one of us was always going to have to give in and be miserable."

That was a pretty good answer, she had to admit.

"And what do you want?" Eric peaked over the top of the workshop. "By the way, I figured out where the window should go."

"What do I want?" Jackie took a seat in Santa's chair. She thought first about Michael, then about her father, then about Steven and what they all had in common. "I think the first thing I want is a guy that I can trust. A real gentleman. Someone who's a little old school now and then. But he has to be funny."

"Sounds like a good start." Eric walked over and stood behind the chair. "Anything else?"

"I like your answer." She smiled to herself. "Somebody who wants the things that I want in life."

"Have you decided what that is yet?" Eric hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder. He could tell the whole conversation was making her a little melancholy. "I'm just saying, I've known you to want to be a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, and I've known you to want to be rich and live here for the rest of your life."

Jackie gave a rueful chuckle. "I think I just want to be happy."

The radio in the store was tuned to WFPP. It wasn't quite time for Donna's show yet but it would be soon. Just as the silence got a little stiff a song broke through the silence.

 _I need a lover that won't drive me crazy  
Some girl to thrill me and then go away  
I need a lover that won't drive me crazy  
Some girl that knows the meaning of a  
Hey hit the highway_

 **BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW**

At the end of the day at Grooves, Hyde walked over to Red's muffler shop. The elder Forman was his Dad. W.B. was his father. Yes, there was a difference. When he needed a kick in the ass or his head screwed on straight, he went to Red. He didn't trust W.B. to do that. He pushed open the door to the shop to see Red behind the counter in his chair counting the money in the till.

"How'd you do today, Red?" Steven came over and leaned on the other side of the counter.

"Better." Red answered with a little satisfaction. "Just a little better every day." Eric came out of the back to join the two of them up front. He was keeping his promise to Red. After helping set up Santa's workshop at the store, he came over and unloaded a truck for his dad. "Anyway, what happened, between you and Sam?" Red looked up from the till.

"Oh well we finally got some time alone, we talked, I told her it would be a mistake if we stayed together." Hyde nodded slowly. "She agreed and we hugged. Then she jumped back up on the main stage to finish her act."

"Hyde, I'm so sorry, man." Eric walked over and put a hand on his best friend's shoulder.

"Well, you two kids lasted longer than I thought you'd last." Red let out a laugh. "I thought she was going to knock you out and steal your wallet on the first night."

Amidst the laughter, the chimes over the door to the shop rang. Everyone looked up and saw Sam standing in the doorway. "Hey."

"Hey." Hyde moved away from the sales counter. "I thought you'd be halfway to Vegas right now."

"Hyde, I'm really sorry things didn't work out." Sam seemed genuine and sad in a way that was moving her in a serious way.

"Yeah, me too." Hyde bowed his head as if to gather himself. "But I'd like to think that if our paths ever cross again, I'll be able to give you 20 dollars and you'll be able to dance for me, that wouldn't be awkward."

Sam laughed and let out a small sniffle. "I'd like that. Bye."

"See ya." Hyde stepped up and held the door open for her. Once she disappeared from view, he let it close again.

"You alright, man?" Eric was the first to speak.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Hyde leaned back on the counter.

"Let me tell you something, son." Red reached under the counter and pulled out three beers. "I dodged a lot of bullets in Korea. But not one as crazy and blonde as the one you just side-stepped."

Eric and Hyde both let out a laugh at that one. "It's funny, man. I never imagined myself divorced from a Vegas stripper at this age."

"I never imagined myself praying every day that I'd finally be able to hang on to my own store after all these years." Red popped the tops on all three beers.

"Yeah, I never thought I'd still be waiting to go to college after a summer in Africa." Eric added. "Or that I'd actually be envisioning a future without Donna in it."

That final admission took both Red and Hyde by surprise. Red was the first to regroup. "But all I know is, when life finally gives you a break from the crap storm, the best thing you can do is crack open a beer with your boys." Red sucked back a gulp of beer and stared down at the beer can. "You boys looking forward to Thanksgiving this year?"

"Yeah." Eric and Hyde both answered simultaneously. "I heard Mrs. Forman's already started cooking."

"Yeah, Kitty loves a full house." Red nodded. "Which of the dumb ass gang is she going to have to feed tomorrow?"

"W.B. and Angie plan to drop by for dinner." Hyde chimed in first.

"Yeah… and, uh Fez and Jackie will be there." Eric cleared his throat. "I think Jackie's even helping mom bake tomorrow morning."

"We should pick Mrs. Forman up some extra pans on the way home." Hyde joked. "Jackie tends to scorch one or two every time she walks into a kitchen." Red and Hyde started laughing boisterously. Eric joined in with a little more apprehension. Owing to the fact that they were going to be working together for the next little while, he'd been spending more and more time with Jackie lately.

What he found was someone who felt almost as lost as he did. She had more reason to.

"What about the Pinciottis?" Red took another swig of beer. "Bob usually comes over and annoys me over dessert. Are you still fighting with Donna?"

"We're not fighting." Eric protested. "We're not really speaking at all."

"Yeah, well, if I were you. I'd make up with her quickly." Red pointed the half-empty can at his son. "If Bob and Donna aren't over at our house for dessert tomorrow, your mother is going to be very upset. And with her menopause, she's a live hand grenade when she doesn't have a reason to be upset. If you give her one…"

"You'll have a reason to put your foot in my ass?" Eric chanced.

"Good to know you're listening, son." Red smirked and took another drink. 


	6. Take the Long Way Home

The bird had gone into the oven, now Kitty was busy working on the sweet potatoes, the veggies and getting the desserts ready to go in the oven after the turkey came out. Red was in the living room watching the Packers and Eagles do battle in their annual Thanksgiving standoff. The boys were down in the basement watching the Macy's Day Parade.

Jackie came striding through the sliding door into the kitchen. "Hi, Mrs. Forman." Jackie stood next to Kitty who was still hovering over the stove. Kitty still wasn't sure quite what to make of Jackie after all these years. On the one hand, she seemed like a well-intentioned girl who always managed to have a smile on her face. On the other hand, she could definitely be pushy and more than a little arrogant. "I brought my Grandma Burkhart's recipe for Apple Strudel, I thought we could make it."

"Oh, Jackie honey, I don't know." Kitty wore a look of concern. "Ah hahahahaha."

"I brought a bottle Chardonnay, because I know what hard work baking is." Jackie pulled the bottle out from behind her back.

"Oh bless you, dear." Kitty grabbed the Chardonnay out of Jackie's hands. "Get the glasses from the cupboard, I could use all the help I can get."

"Eric said that Mr. Forman looked forward to the desserts at Thanksgiving every year. Since you've been nice enough to invite me into your home the last few years, I just figured I should contribute this year." She wasn't sure where that came from. Sure, she liked to talk but she rarely felt like she had to explain herself.

"That's very sweet dear." Kitty looked at the resume. "Alright, I'm going to need some apples, raisins, the flour and my baking oil."

"This sounds like fun." Jackie clapped quickly. "How can I help?"

"You can get me the apples, the raisins, the flour and my baking oil." Kitty repeated and she watched as the younger woman started digging through the cupboards for the ingredients. Over the years, she'd tried to teach Jackie to cook a few times. When she was dating Steven, she took it as a kind of motherly responsibility. Truth be told, she'd developed an affection for Jackie. Her mother was never around, she didn't really have role models and it felt like she was learning to be a woman from what she saw on television. "Dear, are you sure that you don't want to go downstairs with your friends and watch the Parade?"

"No way, Mrs. Forman. Let's strudel!" Jackie smiled brightly and Kitty couldn't help but encouraged by her positivity. Eric joined them in the kitchen to grab a bag of chips before heading back downstairs.

"Jackie?" Eric seemed to be both confused and worried that Jackie was upstairs hanging out with his mother. "Isn't dinner like hours and hours from now?"

"Jackie decided to come over and help me cook." Kitty answered for both of them in a slightly stern maternal tone that warned Eric off. For her part, Jackie had a look on her face of slight panic. There was a feeling that she'd done something wrong that overcame her quickly. Eric stuck out his lower lip, gave a slight nod and grabbed the bag of chips from the cupboard before disappearing back into the basement.

"Jackie's upstairs cooking with my mom." Eric tossed the chips down in the middle of the assembled group in the basement.

"Yeah, she's probably going to be hanging around more." Hyde refused to lift his eyes from the television. "Now that Sam's gone, she probably thinks things are back to normal?"

"Speaking of normal…"Eric hinted.

"Way ahead of you." Hyde pulled out the lighter, the joint and the incense to mask the smell. He lit the incense as everyone took their typical places in the circle. It felt a little incomplete without Kelso but they'd make do. Hyde took the first toke and passed it over to Forman. "So, Jackie's upstairs cooking with your mom, huh?" He blew a plume of smoke out into the room. "How's she look, man?"

"She looks like Jackie." Eric shrugged, not quite sure how to take the question. "Short, dark hair, you know."

"Mmmmmm, Jackie." Fez moaned. "You know, Hyde, I cannot believe that you did not try and have her and your stripper at the same time."

"You are an evil, evil little man." Hyde began to chuckle. "You know, man? I'm not sure she actually slept with Kelso in Chicago."

"Really? What tipped you off, Columbo?" Eric took the joint again. "Her repeatedly denying it, Kelso repeatedly denying it or the fact that, you know, you're sleeping alone again?"

"Ai…" Fez's voice had a warning tone in it.

"What are you saying, man?" Hyde pointed at Eric.

"I'm saying that you really hurt her, man." Eric got really serious.

"He is also saying that you are only interested in Jackie hanging around because you want nookie." Fez interjected much to Eric and Steven's shock. Once he realized what he'd done an expression of severe worry grew on his face. "Ai…"

"You know what, Forman?" Hyde kept point at Eric. As the tension grew, a smile appeared on Hyde's face. "When did my fingers get so long, man?" He took a hit off the joint.

"Hey losers." Angie came into the basement and took Kelso's usual spot in the circle. "You realize you can smell that incense outside on the lower stairs, right?" She took the joint from Hyde.

"As long as that's all you can smell." Hyde grinned.

"So, what were you talking about?" Angie settled in and passed the joint to Fez.

"They were talking about how Hyde is only now noticing Jackie is alive again because he is no longer married to a stripper." Fez breathed in the smoke.

"Fez, shut up!" Eric almost leapt out of this chair.

"Yeah, man, we were talking about that!" Hyde snapped back into reality. "Forman, man, you don't know Jackie. Sure, she has moments where she seems all short and harmless. But there's a darker side in there, man." Hyde took the joint back. "And it always wants to make out with Kelso!"

"Hey Angie, where's W.B? I thought you guys were showing up together." Eric was desperate to change the conversation.

"Upstairs watching football with your Dad." Angie answered as she took another hit. "Or, as he calls it, getting in touch with whitey." A quick ripple of laughter went through the circle.

The door at the top of the stairs clicked and Kitty's voice rang through the basement. "Kids, dinner's ready!"

Hyde and Eric quickly waved their hands around to force the smoke to disperse before running upstairs for dinner. Angie made it up the stairs first, followed by Fez, Hyde and Eric. The whole group slowly filed into the dining room. As Eric walked in, the scene struck him. At the head of the table was Red, as always. At the other end was his mother. Along the one side, sat Hyde with his extended family. On the other were Fez and Jackie with the last open seat sandwiched between Jackie and Red near the head of the table.

There was no denying that it felt a little weird having Thanksgiving without Laurie. But he could get over that quick. It was Thanksgiving without Kelso begging to stay because his parents had failed to count how many kids they actually had at their dinner table that was harder to get used to. It was Thanksgiving without any of his grandparents. In a strange way, it felt as though they had evolved into a new and different family.

"Are you going to stand there and stare at the table all night or are you going to actually have dinner." Red glared over the bird at Eric and the younger Forman quickly took his seat. "Alright, before I carve this bird, Kitty would you say Grace?"

"Oh, Red." Kitty smiled widely at her husband. It wasn't like Red to be overtly religious. But he did make exceptions. "Everyone join hands." Kitty requested. A few people took her lead. Fez took Jackie's hand and Mrs. Forman's. Angie and W.B linked up on the other side of the table.

"Do it." Red instructed the rest of the table. Hyde took W.B's hand and Mrs. Forman's. Red grabbed Angie and Eric by the hand. The last two were Eric and Jackie. With a tender kind of reticence, Jackie reached for Eric's hand, at first taking him lightly by a couple fingers before he felt comfortable closing his much larger hand over hers.

"Dear Lord, we thank you for bringing us all together in the warmth of this House for another Thanksgiving." Kitty bowed her head and closed her eyes. "Thank you for filling this House with love, for growing our family this year and, even though we might have preferred he not be in danger, for bringing Eric back from Africa to be with us for the holidays." She took a deep breath. "Lord, I'm thankful for each and every person around this table. Amen."

"Amen." The rest of the table chorused back.

"Now, we have turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, cranberry sauce, stuffing and W.B. was nice enough to bring some cornbread made with his mother's recipe." Kitty pointed at the orange plate near the middle of the table.

"I figured this suburban Thanksgiving could use a little soul food." W.B smacked his palms together. "I just wish I could have made my mother's collard greens."

"Nobody could make Grandma's collard greens." Angie chirped in as she spooned out some peas and carrots on to her plate. At the head of the table, Red was carving the turkey with a large knife and serving fork, handing out servings to every plate passed his way.

"Red, can you save a drumstick for me?" W.B was in the process of doling out some of Kitty's stuffing on to his plate and Angie's

"Sure thing." Red grinned to one side of his mouth. Normally he could rely on the second leg for leftovers the day after Thanksgiving. Guess that wasn't going to be the case this year. He passed the other drumstick down to W.B and finished carving up the bird.

"Now, everybody save room for dessert." Kitty instructed. "Jackie and I spent the afternoon baking and it just…well, it turned out super!"

"How many pans did you scorch this time, Jack?" Hyde riffed as he stuck a forkful of mashed potatoes in his mouth. The table shook as Mrs. Forman, Jackie and Angie all tried to kick Steven in the shin at the same time. "Ow!"

"Now, now, there'll be none of that." Kitty castigated him with a sternly pointed finger. "Jackie was a delight in this kitchen today. She even brought over one of her grandmother's recipes."

"Yeah, and Mrs. Forman taught me how to make homemade whipped cream." Jackie grinned in satisfaction having just stuck a piece of turkey in her mouth.

"Isn't that just heavy cream and a whisk?" Angie asked across the table.

"Yeah." Jackie was initially defiant. "But I didn't know that."

"You know, this might be the nicest Thanksgiving I've had since the first one that Kitty and I had after I got back from Korea." Red set the knife and serving fork down and dug into his dinner.

"But Dad, you didn't have kids yet." Eric interjected wearily.

"So?" Red seemed nonchalant. Eric couldn't help but laugh to himself a little. He had to admit, these holidays did feel a little different. Even when he was busting Eric's chops, he seemed to be doing it with a kind of gentle good humour. The Forman family Christmas tree always went up on the Sunday of the first Packers game after Thanksgiving.

"Well, Red, that's not true." Kitty was gentle but firm. "Remember that Thanksgiving that Eric played the Pilgrim in the school play?"

"You mean when he cried after his cap rifle killed the fake turkey?" Red answered back with an amused smile. "Come to think of it, the turkey was really juicy that year."

"Hey Red, how'd the Packers do?" Hyde stabbed at the turkey on his plate.

"They lost." Red seemed annoyed. "They can win when they play home games at Milwaukee County Stadium but not when they go up to Lambeau to play home games. They go out and get Lynn Dickey from Houston. He comes here and he plays like a total dumbass." Red grunted. "Just once, I would like to see the Packers make the playoffs before I die."

"They're in a rough division, Red." W.B stepped in. "They've got to deal with Rashad up in Minnesota and Payton down in Chicago. They'd be even worse if they didn't have Detroit and Tampa to pick on a few times a year."

"Right." Red dragged out the word. "Kitty, these yams are outstanding. Did you do something different this year?"

"I candied them" Kitty smiled and laughed nervously. "Ah hahahahaha!"

"This is excellent, Mrs. Forman. Thanks for having us over." Angie was the first to almost clear her plate, followed by Fez and Eric. It was truly a feast, Eric thought. If they didn't have eight people, it would have taken days to get through all this food. He wondered what the heck they were going to do with the dessert that was still out in the kitchen. Then he remembered that Bottomless Bob Pinciotti would be on his way over shortly to help out with that.

Once everyone had finished, Kitty and Jackie gathered up the plates and brought them into the kitchen. In the Forman home, it was never allowed to eat a holiday meal in front of a television but dessert could be had in the living room in front of the TV. So, everyone moved into the living room with Red taking up his place in his favourite chair and everyone else scattered around the room.

In the kitchen, Kitty and Jackie were putting the finishing touches on their desserts for the night. For Jackie, that meant sprinkling some icing sugar over the top of the strudel and staring at it for a second. "Jackie, honey, don't worry." Kitty came over and gave the younger woman a side along hug by wrapping one arm around her shoulders. "My first thanksgiving with Red's family, I burned the scalloped potatoes I was supposed to bring over twice."

"I don't know why I care so much about this, Mrs. Forman." Jackie sounded frustrated and confused. "It's just an apple strudel. I've lead a cheer team in front of an entire homecoming crowd. Why am I freaking out about a dessert?"

"Because all those people in the crowd at that football game won't see you next Thanksgiving." Kitty answered with a wistful maternal smile.

"And they will?" Jackie pointed at the door to the living room.

"Call it a hunch, dear." Kitty had carved up the pie, gathered up the individual plates and forks and prepared to take them into the living room. Jackie had carved up the strudel into individual portions, grabbed the side dish of whipped cream and followed Mrs. Forman.

"Alright, I've got my special pumpkin pie." Kitty set it down on the coffee table in the middle of the room. "Jackie has her apple strudel. There's whipped cream for both. Now, everyone dig in."

No one could beat Red Forman to Kitty's pumpkin pie. Eric didn't think he'd ever seen his father move that quickly. Red was up, had scooped a piece of pie, dropped some whipped cream on it and was back in his chair before even one commercial was over. The only thing worth watching on the television at this hour was the Dallas-Houston football game, so that's what was on.

Angie, W.B. and Fez all opted for Mrs. Forman's pumpkin pie as well. It was Hyde and Eric who first took a piece of Jackie's apple strudel. After one forkful, Eric's eyes could disguise his shock. "Dad, you've got to try this. It's really good."

Jackie did her best to be demure. But there was something about Eric's expression that wasn't just simple surprise. She saw surprise on Steven's face, too. And she enjoyed it. In addition to dessert, Steven was eating crow over all the burned cookware jokes he'd made. On Eric's face there was something else though. Having powered through a slice of Kitty's pumpkin pie – and not totally trusting his son's judgment – Red cut off a small slice of strudel and shifted it on to his plate.

When he carved a piece off with his fork, he almost sniffed it on its way to his lips. After sliding it between his teeth, Red ended up wearing the same look at his son. "Jackie, this is great!" Red pointed at the plate with his fork. "Kitty, we've got to add this to our Thanksgiving menu."

Subtly, Kitty gave Jackie a reassuring wink and then grabbed a slice of her pie. "Just wait until Bob gets here." Hyde joked as he took a seat behind the bar in the corner.

"Somebody say my name?" Bob Pinciotti burst into the living room. "You know that I wouldn't miss our annual dessert at the Forman house, Kitty."

"I know, Bob." Kitty pushed the corners of her mouth into a smile. "Help yourself. I guess I should start the cleanup in the kitchen."

"No, mom." Eric had finished his dessert. "You've been cooking all day. Let me take care of cleaning up."

"Yeah, Mrs. Forman, you should rest for a while." Jackie jumped in quickly. "I'll help Eric with the dishes." The two of them disappeared into kitchen to almost no one's surprise except Hyde's. After all, since when did Jackie ever volunteer for chores.

"So, Bob, is Donna not coming over for dessert tonight?" Kitty inquired as she took a seat on the couch.

"We were over at my brother Donny's for dinner and she got some cranberry sauce on her shirt." Bob explained. "So, she wanted to change before she came over."

In the kitchen, Jackie and Eric were confronted by a mountain of dishes, silverware and cookware to clean. "I think we might be in over our heads here." Eric nervously laughed as he stared at the pile. "Let's start with the easy to clean stuff. The dishes and the silverware. I'll wash, you dry. Then we'll deal with the pots and pans."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Jackie nodded and the two of them headed for the sink.

For a couple minutes, they scrubbed the dishes in relatively companionable silence. After she couldn't take it anymore, Jackie decided to speak up. "Eric, I just wanted to thank you for inviting me. This is the first time I've really felt like I had a family in a while."

"Don't mention it." Eric smiled. He wasn't sure how to answer. "You definitely helped make this a good Thanksgiving."

"Yeah, your mom seemed to think so, too." Jackie was going to test him here a little just to see if he could decrypt what Kitty had said earlier. "She said that the reason I was so nervous about my dessert is because I'd be back here for Thanksgiving next year. What do you think she meant by that?"

Eric felt a quick burst of panic run up and down his spine. "I don't know." He furrowed his brow to make it look like he was thinking. "She must have been talking about Hyde. My mom never liked Sam, she must think the two of your will get back together or something.

For a second, Jackie was crestfallen. She'd actually enjoyed spending the afternoon with Mrs. Forman. And maybe in her own way, she thought Eric's mother had been talking about something else.

"Can you believe we have to start work tomorrow?" Eric tactfully shifted subjects.

"I still can't quite picture you as Santa Claus." Jackie gave a small laugh that ended with a slightly playful lilt.

"Oh, well then let me remove all doubt." Eric cocked one eyebrow playfully and put his head down toward the sink.

Out in the driveway, Donna was coming over after having changed shirts at her house. Since her Mom left, they tried to do holidays with the extended family so that the table would seem a little less empty. But she still looked forward to dessert at the Forman's.

As she crossed the old driveway, she wondered how things might turn out. Tomorrow, her and Vanessa from the radio station would be broadcasting from Grooves. Max had actually given her the afternoon and Vanessa the morning shift in addition to their usual shows so that only Jerry Thunder wouldn't be at Grooves tomorrow. But he'd still throw to them for promos a few times during his broadcast. She'd see Randy, spend the day with Hyde and maybe, whatever chaos she was feeling right now would start to resolve itself.

She looked up into the Forman's kitchen through the sliding door to see Eric and Jackie standing at the sink. Eric had a beard of dish soap bubbles hanging from his chin and Jackie was obviously trying not to roar with laughter. Jackie's hand was in front of her lips but the fire in her eyes and the glint off her teeth was unmistakable.

With that same hand she reached up to caress Eric's cheek, pull some of the bubbles off and flick them at him. Eric started to laugh heartily.

Donna got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach before she even touched the door.


	7. Heartache Tonight

"Leo, man, you gotta wake up." Hyde was in the store early only to find Leo asleep on the couch. The aged hippy stirred and stared up at Hyde.

"How long was I out, man?" Leo blinked hard.

"No idea, man." Hyde laughed a little to himself. "But we gotta get the store ready. This is one of the biggest shopping days of the year, man. Everyone starts buying their Christmas stuff now."

"Is it December already, man?" Leo sat up on the couch. "It's amazing how time flies."

"Nah, it's the day after Thanksgiving." Hyde ducked in behind the counter and started counting the float in the till. "Pretty soon, the radio station is going to be setting up in here. We've got to be ready for the traffic. Why were you crashing on the couch anyway?"

"Randy was using the cot in the stock room when I showed up, man." Leo headed over to the stock room door. "Which was weird because I thought he had a place." Hyde thought so, too. He pushed open the door to the stock room and headed back through the inventory to the place where he kept the napping cot, near the back door.

Sure enough, sprawled out on the cot face down was Randy. The back of the stock room stunk of bourbon and beer. Hyde crouched down next to the cot and shoved Randy's shoulder. "Get up. I'm the only one allowed to pass out back here."

"Hyde?" When Randy opened his mouth, the unmistakable smell of tobacco smoke came wafting out. Randy completed the bender trifecta last night. "What time is it?"

"7:30." It was early for Hyde, too. But it was the only day of the year he was actually expected to do this. "Want to tell me what you got into last night?"

"I think her name was hyphenated…Betty-Lou…Billie-Joe, something like that." Randy rubbed his eyes hard.

"Why didn't you stay at her place then?" Hyde took a seat at the desk they kept at the back of the stock room so that they could keep the paperwork far away from the customers.

"Because it probably would have been like playing pool with a rope." Randy sat up on the edge of the cot. "I haven't exactly been at my best since Donna and I broke up."

"Memory serves, you broke up with her though?" Hyde's confusion was palpable. "Listen, man, I've done the bender thing and once you're fully sobered up, you can tell me about this one. It sounds like a hell of a story. Get out of here, shower and down some coffee. Then get back here quick."

"Sure." Randy groaned as he got to his feet. "I don't know how the country singers do it. This is like a regular Tuesday for them."

"There's actual pain going on there. Not just some teenage girl who broke up with them." Hyde got to his feet so that he could head back up to the front of the store. "Normally, someone shot their dog and busted their truck as well."

"I'll go get myself cleaned up." Randy headed out the back door.

"How's Randy doing?" Leo asked as Hyde came back to the front of the store. Say what you want about the former hippy, he definitely cared about people. "He looked pretty rough when I saw him last night."

"He'll be fine, man." Hyde went to a corner and grabbed the folding table they usually used for the radio set up when Donna came by. "Come on, Leo, help me set this up." They pulled the heavy folding table up and set it up next to the till. The last thing that they had to do before turning over the 'OPEN' sign for the days was to just check the stock at the front of the store.

 **BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW**

The locker rooms at the department store were attached to the store room. Eric had put the suit and the belly pad; the boots and the wig on a number of time. Because he was so young, the store decided to go with some really costume make up facial hair that adhered to his skin instead of the beard wig that wrapped around his head with an elastic band. But he needed help putting the facial hair on.

So, he stood in the stock room waiting for Jackie who he could trust to help him put this on straight. When she came out of the women's locker room, she definitely caught his attention. Her green elf's tunic was cut very slim and the oversized belt they used to tie it off in the middle really accentuated her waist. The horizontally striped red and white leggings clung to her long legs almost like they were painted on. She carried the elf hat under one arm.

"Eric!" Jackie almost screamed at him. "We've got to get out there really soon and you're not ready."

"Jackie, this facial hair is really tough." Eric held it up. "I'm not sure I trust myself to get this right and you do make up all the time so…"

"Hand it over." Jackie waved at him with her hands and her palms face up. She dealt with the moustache first. She peeled the adhesive protection off the fake moustache and lined it up under Eric's nose. "Stay still. Stop being so twitchy for once."

"I'll try." Eric attempted to restrain a grin.

"No talking." She directed. The moustache went on straight. Stepping back, she took a look at him and thought for a second. She ran back into the ladies' locker room and grabbed her purse. "Santa is supposed to happy rosy cheeks. I figured you could use a little blush to rosy them up a little bit."

"Make up?" Eric was hesitant.

"Do you trust me or not?" She was getting right to the point. They were short on time.

"Fine." He groaned. She lightly ran the brush over his cheeks just to put a little extra pink in them. After putting her make up back in her purse, she turned her attention to the prosthetic beard. Luckily they didn't pick anything too Civil War-like in length for Eric. It was long, but not ridiculously so. Enough to look realistic actually. She took the adhesive protection off and line it up with his jawline.

After stepping back, she had to smile. No doubt she had been skeptical about his ability to be Santa Claus, but now that she was looking at him, she had to admit he could pull it off. Eric naturally had Santa's wholesome magical twinkle in his eye. And, of course, that was her Elf name at work. She was 'Twinkle'. "Alright, give me a nice, deep Santa laugh. Something that's going to show those reindeer who's boss."

"Ho! Ho! Ho!" Eric lowered his voice considerably, using his Darth Vader imitation as his Santa voice, ironically.

"Let's go to the North Pole!" Jackie turned the two of them and they headed out the big double doors of the department store to Santa's workshop.

 **BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW**

Donna was getting ready to do her first of two _Hot Donna_ shows from the floor of Grooves that afternoon. As much as she was hoping to have time to talk to hide, the poor guy seemed run off his feet. "It's the Eagles, man." Hyde said with frustration. "It's all 'Heartache Tonight'. Guys like it, girls like it, rockers like it and country fans like it. It's playing everywhere."

She already knew that. It had been a Billboard Number One two weeks ago. It was by far one of the most requested songs that the station got. She'd never really been an Eagles fan but she couldn't deny that they were selling. The store was humming. She could tell that Hyde did everything he could to avoid letting Leo behind the counter to actually sell anything, or more likely, count change.

"Hey, I'm on lunch for the next half hour." Hyde walked over to where the radio gear was set up. "You wanna go talk?"

"I've got like fifteen minutes, but yeah." Donna walked back into the stock room with Hyde. "So, is it just me or has Randy seemed a little off today?"

"Yeah, he's pretty hungover." Hyde laughed a little to himself. "He's been on a bender since the two of you split."

"You don't think that's my fault, do you?" Donna instantly got her back up. "He's the one who broke up with me as I was getting off work like a total dill-hole."

"No doubt." Hyde nodded slowly. "At the same time, things have been a little weird since your scrawny little neighbour boy got back from Africa and you got caught with your hand in the Randy-jar."

Donna gave a self-deprecating chuckle. "This isn't about Eric."

"This is entirely about Eric." Hyde cut her off. "If Eric hadn't come back, you'd still be trying to make things work with a guy who has hair like he spends his nights as a Steve Nicks impersonator in drag."

"Okay, so maybe it is a little bit about Eric." Donna leaned back on one of the inventory shelves. "Ever since he's been back, he's been there but not there. You know? It's a bit like when we broke up after the promise ring thing except back then, I never doubted that Eric still wanted me. He kept paying attention to me. Now, it's just like he's disappeared and then last night I…" She paused when she realized who she was talking to.

"Last night you what?" Hyde was suddenly super interested. "You were acting kind of awkward after you showed up last night."

"When I was walking across the driveway, I saw Eric and Jackie cleaning in the kitchen and…I mean, I don't know, but it looked like they were flirting." Donna sounded genuinely concerned.

"Jackie and Eric?" Hyde sounded amused more than anything. "The two of them can't even watch TV together without trading insults. Forman once said he wanted to throw her out of a moving car back when she was dating Kelso."

"Yeah, and Jackie's said that any woman who dates Eric is basically half-lesbian." A statement that made Donna laugh to remember. "But I know what I saw. I know Eric when he's happy and interested and I know Jackie when she's prepared to think the next guy is _the_ guy. Last night was…not the Eric and Jackie I know."

"I wouldn't worry about it." Hyde brushed her off. "Jackie's been hanging around a lot lately and she's barely left the Forman's since Sam and I got divorced."

"You know who you sound like right now?" Donna started laughing to herself. "Kelso."

"Take it back." Hyde instantly got really serious.

"No, think about it." Donna was still laughing. "When you were first with Jackie, Kelso was convinced that she was going to come back to him. He really thought she was just using you to make him jealous."

"This isn't funny, Donna." Hyde started to pace.

"It's a little funny." Donna was enjoying making Hyde sweat.

"Oh yeah, well if Jackie's interested in Eric, he might just end up being interested in her." Hyde decided to turn the tables. "After all, you said yourself, he hasn't exactly been chasing after you since he got home."

"Come on." Donna shook it off. "Eric's been in love with me since he was seven years old. I don't think you just brush that off. He's never even dated anyone else for more than one date. Remember when he kissed Laurie's college friend and he just had to tell me. Eric's too good a guy and too loyal."

"Yeah, but maybe he's sick of seeing you with other guys." Hyde shot back. "Casey Kelso might have been one thing, but he might think you were sneaking around with Randy before the two of you broke up. Being cheated on screws with your head."

"Well, I wasn't." Donna protested. "You told him that, right?"

"I told him that I didn't know." Hyde answered. "And I don't."

"Whatever, I've got to get on the air." Donna breezed past Hyde. "And I've got my first song, just for you."

She settled in behind the desk and put the headphones on. "This is Hot Donna coming to you live from Grooves record store in lovely downtown Point Place. We're going to be live on location all day with me and _Vanessa's Vixen Hour_ later on. To kick off today's show we've got the Eagles with 'Heartache Tonight'."

 _Somebody's gonna hurt someone before the night is through.  
Somebody's gonna come undone; there's nothin' we can do  
Everybody wants to touch somebody, if it takes all night  
Everybody wants to take a little chance, make it come out right  
There's gonna be a heartache tonight, a heartache tonight I know_

 **BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW**

Ten hours later, Eric and Jackie were packing up Santa's workshop for the night. The Elves would trade days of the week. Sometimes they would split shifts but Jackie had told Shelly that she wanted to carry as many hours as possible. Eric had to admit that he would rarely have more difficulty doing anything than trying to take a whiz with his Santa suit on.

Peeling the fake beard and moustache off was a bit of a painful trick. He figured out that he take the beard off slowly and rip the moustache off to minimize the amount of pain. It also felt like he was going to have to scrub his face with a scouring pad to get all the glue off.

He threw his bag over his shoulder and made for the back door to the store room. All in all, it wasn't a bad day. Shelly had told him that it wasn't unusual for the really young kids to get nervous or scared and accidentally make a little mistake in Santa's lap. That's why they kept a couple copies of the suit in the back in case Santa had to change on the fly. But, luckily for Eric, he'd made it through his first day without anything like that.

It turned out that he actually really liked kids. He even had a talent for making them smile. A few of the little boys had certainly taken a liking to Twinkle as well. A deep laugh started to form in his chest but it only manifested as a smile by the time it got to his face. He wondered how long he could get away with referring to Jackie as Twinkle when they were off shift before she took a swing at him.

He waited outside in the employee parking behind the store for Jackie. They had an agreement that when they got off shift together, Eric would drive her home. Now he stood waiting for her, his head back against the brick of the store, just staring up at the stars.

"Hey, Eric." Shelly was the next person out of the back door to the store. "How was your first day?"

"A lot of fun, actually." Eric smiled one of those tired, almost exhausted smiles that flashes across your face for only a second.

"Well, I wasn't supposed to tell you this, but you killed it." Shelly swung around to stand in front of him. "That was a sales record for a Friday after Thanksgiving. Helped by the fact that you saw over 250 kids on your first day."

"Yeah, well, it turns out that I was better with kids than I thought." Eric gave a nervous laugh as Shelly slowly seemed to be closing the distance between them.

"Trust me, people noticed." Shelly stared down at his chest, trying to avoid his eyes. "That's the most compliments we've gotten about a Santa Claus in one day. I'll have to figure out how you got that apple cheeked look, that was quite the trick."

"Um," Eric swallowed hard. "That was Jackie's idea. She's really…good at that kind of thing."

"Yeah." Shelly let her voice linger. It was late November in Wisconsin and her breath seemed to rise off her lips like steam. She backed off at the last second when she heard the clicking of the back door to the store. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Um, yeah." Eric nodded quickly and breathed a sigh of relief. He looked over to see Jackie standing there.

"Ready to head home?" Eric started walking toward the Vista Cruiser.

"Yeah." Jackie wondered what she had just walked in on. She could feel the tension in the air. "What did Shelly want?"

"She was just telling me the sales results from the day." Eric swung in behind the steering wheel. "Apparently the store set a sales record for today."

"Well, that's good." Jackie landed in the passenger seat up front. "I could really use that bonus come Christmas Eve."

"She also liked the job you did on my cheeks with the makeup." Eric felt like complimenting Jackie would relieve whatever lingering tension there was.

"Really?" Jackie seemed a little unsure. Eric started the car and pulled them out of the mall parking lot. "Was that it?"

"I mean, apparently we saw more than 250 kids today." Eric was trying to overcome his exhaustion. "Can you believe that?"

"Yeah, it was actually kind of fun." Jackie was back to smiling. "I didn't think I'd enjoy spending that kind of time with kids. That was the thing that worried me about this job, but it turns out it's actually kind of fun."

"Yeah, I think some of the little guys definitely had a thing for Twinkle." Eric jousted as they pulled off the main drag toward Jackie's apartment.

"Well, Twinkle's fabulous. How could they not?" Jackie enjoyed this little banter with Eric. More than she thought she ever could given that it was, well, Eric. She definitely looked fabulous in those leggings, Eric thought to himself. And then pinched the bridge of his nose. What the hell was he doing?

"Here we are." Eric pulled up to the curb outside her apartment building. "Want me to pick you up tomorrow on the way to work?"

"When does your shift start tomorrow?" Jackie asked as she popped the passenger side door open.

"The workshop is open from 10am until 6:30pm tomorrow." Eric searched his memory. "I've got to go in a little early to get ready, obviously."

"My shift doesn't start until two tomorrow." Jackie felt a little disappointed at that when she had to say it out loud. "I guess we'll have to apple up your cheeks on your lunch break when I get in."

"I guess so." Eric smiled weakly. "See you tomorrow, Twinkle."

"Goodnight, Santa." Jackie closed the door.

 **BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW**

 _The Vixen Hour_ was just about to take over after the second _Hot Donna_ show of the day. Grooves had been packed from the moment the doors opened until now, an hour before closing time. Hyde had already had to fill out two deposit slips and take cash back to the safe hidden away in the back of the store. It was standard store protocol right W.B. Once the till got too full, it had to be cleared and stored until the deposit could be run to the bank.

Donna put on the last song of her show and pulled her headphones off. It felt good to help Hyde out with the store on one of the biggest shopping days of the year. As she did every night when she took the headphones, she ran a hand through her hair to unflatten it and she got up to stretch out and walk around the listening pit of the store.

"Hey Donna," Hyde called over to her from behind the counter. "Thanks."

"No problem." She waved at him. Randy came walking out of the stock room and the two of them came face-to-face. "Hey." She nodded at him.

"Hey." He nodded back. "Um, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say here."

"How about anything?" Donna wanted to freak out on him.

"I'm…sorry, I guess." Randy shrugged. "At least for the way I did it. But, come on Donna, it wasn't like things were working and neither of us seemed to be very interested in changing that."

"Hyde says you've been feeling a little rough lately." Donna tried to transition away from the direct conflict.

"Just a couple benders." Randy tried to play it cool. "It's nothing."

"Yeah, well, take care of yourself alright?" Donna tried to reach out to him but the whole thing felt kind of awkward.

"I'll do what I can." Randy cracked his knuckles. "And hey, I don't know what you should do about Eric, or really have an opinion, I just would hate to lose out to a guy who was never really in the game, you know?"

Just as Donna was about to answer, the start of the _Vixen Hour_ cut in over her shoulder.

 _Some people like to stay out late  
Some folks can't hold out that long  
But nobody wants to go home now; there's too much goin' on_

"Yeah, I know." Donna nodded and Randy went back to work.


	8. Even the Losers

Eric was never home. Periodically, Donna would see the Cruiser pull in after 9 but it was always gone again the next morning before she was up. When she tried to get information from Kitty, all Eric's mom would say is that he was working. Nobody seemed to know where. Kitty knew that he went into the muffler shop in the morning to help Red. Even though the elder Forman would almost certainly never admit it, he enjoyed getting the extra help from Eric.

The way Donna saw it, she basically had two options. She could either stay up late after one of her shifts and wait for Eric to get home and then try and talk to him in the basement; or, she could get up early one morning and try to catch Eric before he left for work. She figured she'd probably have better luck with him early in the morning.

Long days and early mornings were starting to catch up with Eric. A glass of orange juice used to be enough for him at this time in the morning. Now, it was a cup and a half of coffee just to get into the muffler shop. Once he got there, he normally had another cup with Red before heading over to the Mall.

"Hey." Donna's voice was soft when she opened the door.

"Hey." Eric gulped the coffee down and sat their stoically at the kitchen table.

"I just, I felt we should talk, ya know?" Donna took a seat across from him. "We haven't really talked or been alone since you got back."

"Yeah." Eric wasn't sure what to say, so his strategy was to say as little as possible.

"Look, I don't know what you think, but what happened with me and Randy…that started after you and I broke up." Donna tried to avoid making eye contact. "So, I mean what happened when you got home…"

"Donna, look, it's about more than that." Eric put his hand flat on the kitchen table. "In the entire time we've been together, something always kept us from getting serious. It's not just your fault. I'm the one who ran away from our wedding. But there's always been something. If I thought there'd never be another Randy, another Casey Kelso, another jilted wedding or promise ring problem…but there's always going to be."

"You don't know that." Donna protested.

"I do." Eric sounded more final than he intended to. "All you've ever wanted to do is get out of here. You've always said that. That you don't want to be trapped in this small town. When I got out, all I wanted to do after a few weeks was be back here. I missed everyone the whole time I was there."

"You never called me." Donna fired back. "You'd only talk to me when you'd call your mom and even then I couldn't get a word in."

"It's a little expensive to call overseas from a village with one phone." Eric sarcastically shot back. "I wanted to talk to my Mom because I wanted to be reminded of home and getting an emotion out of Red is like getting Chewbacca to speak English."

"Were you running away from me when you left for Africa?" It was a question she'd always wanted to ask. It was the reason that she thought asking him to stay had always seemed to fall on deaf ears.

"I don't know." Eric paused. "Maybe. It felt like, after graduation we just weren't doing anything. I needed to force myself to grow up and that meant outgrowing things."

"But not Star Wars?" Donna jibed playfully.

"Rebel Alliance till the day I die." Eric smiled back at her.

"I guess I'm one of those things." She sounded resigned, not quite defeated. If Eric was being honest, that was how he felt about it. When he was in Africa, he wasn't the only American in the village. There was a Jesuit from Philadelphia named Dante Cabrelli. On the occasion that the two of them would talk and Eric would try to explain what was going on in his head, the young Jesuit would just smile and quote scripture at him _"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things_."

The Priest said more of course, but it was that passage from Corinthians that had stayed with Eric. Maybe it was because in Africa, there simply weren't that many childish things to occupy yourself with. There was no TV. The only thing they'd gotten on radio was Armed Forces Radio, which was good for transmitting baseball games and news but not much else. He'd even gone seven months without sitting in the circle with the guys.

"I don't know, maybe." Eric didn't know why he couldn't be final with that sentence. Maybe it was the look on Donna's face and the thought that if he was more certain, it would hurt her more. "You're the only girl I've ever…ya know, loved and I just think that if I come back here and nothing's changed then…"

"You know what?" Donna had a look of resolution on her face. "I kind of get it. If it was going to work by now, it would have. I just never thought about…"

"What would happen next?" Eric interceded. "Yeah, I hadn't either."

"So…" The silence lingered between the two of them. "Where are you working? Everyone sees you leave in the morning but no one seems to know where you're going."

"Yeah, that's for me and you to…not." Eric got to his feet just as Red came walking into the kitchen.

"Donna." Red came in and poured himself a cup of coffee. "Eric, did you offer Donna anything for breakfast or did you just sit there like some kind of dumbass lump on a log waiting for her to help herself?"

"Pretty sure that burn was directed at me, but somehow you got called a dumbass." Eric leaned over and whispered. Donna laughed. Red walked a cup of coffee over to Donna. "Thanks, Dad."

"Well, I figured this talk was probably a long time coming for you two." Red took a sip of his coffee. "Now, get your ass in the car. The new shipment at the store isn't going to unload itself."

Eric smirked, put his palms on the table and pushed himself to his feet. It was going to be yet another long day. He now understood why they usually had a few men playing Santa at the store. He was already in for a lot of overtime but he just kept thinking about the paycheck at the end of it all. It was getting him closer and closer to paying for school. "Hey, Hyde will probably be up in a few hours if you want to hang out in the basement."

"Sounds like a plan." Donna took a sip from the cup that Red had handed her. Eric disappeared through the door over her shoulder. She sat there thinking about work for a second and all the songwriters she enjoyed that the guys she hung out with weren't necessarily into. The radio in the Forman's kitchen was tuned, as it always was to WFPP and they were playing one of those songwriters now as they fired up the morning show.

 _Baby time meant nothin' anything seemed real  
Yeah you could kiss like fire and you made me feel  
Like every word you said was meant to be  
Babe, it couldn't have been that easy to forget about me_

 _Baby even the losers  
Get lucky sometimes_

 **BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW**

Jackie only got short closing shifts on the weekends. Two of the other elves were high school seniors, so they weren't available when the mall was open during the day. Usually, Jackie got the afternoon shifts during the weekend and the evening shift on Saturday. She was also the one that the other elves usually asked to cover their shifts if they couldn't make it. Which, a week into their jobs, was already too much.

If one of the other elves flaked out and simply missed her shift, it usually meant that Shelly Wessler in her role as Mrs. Claus ended up filling in on candy cane duty while the one elf remaining – usually Jackie – took over behind the camera taking pictures.

Santa's workshop opened every week day at noon and at the same time that the Mall opened on Saturday. That usually meant that the employee locker rooms were full for the half hour before a shift. Jackie and Shelly had lockers at the same end of the aisle but they almost never spoke. As Jackie pulled on her curly-toed shoes, she heard her blonde co-worker clear her throat.

"So, uh, Jackie?" Shelly's voice was slightly less ditzy than it had been in high school.

"Yeah." Jackie pulled her elf hat on.

"Is Eric still seeing Donna?" Shelly seemed to blurt it all out at once. "I only ask because the last time we had kind of a flirty thing, it was Donna that made it all weird."

Jackie didn't remember it working that way. She remembered Eric freaking out a lot because Donna wasn't jealous enough. She remembered her and Donna walking in on Shelly kissing Eric at the Hub. It definitely didn't seem like a two-way thing.

"No." Jackie wasn't quite sure how to take this question. "I mean, things have been a little weird since he got back but they're definitely not seeing each other anymore."

"Good." Shelly's smile got wider. "He's really sweet, you know. And it turns out that he's really good with kids."

"Yeah." Jackie gnawed on her lower lip. There was so much conflict going on right now that she didn't know what to do with it all. "He's a really good guy."

"I wasn't sure there were that many of them left." Shelly adjusted her white Mrs. Claus wig and headed for the exit to the locker room. Jackie stared into her locker. Her first instinct was to try and find some way to sabotage Shelly. That's what High School Jackie would have done. It's what Steven would have expected and planned for her to do. How was she going to deal with this with a guy who was actually a legitimately good guy?

She headed out into the store room where Eric was waiting for her, moustache and beard waiting to be attached as always. "Twinkle. Santa's ready for the makeup chair."

Jackie almost felt irritated when he did that. That didn't seem right. Eric had nothing to do with the conversation she'd just had. She took the moustache from his hand, lined it up and pressed it on to his upper lip a little more firmly than she had before. "Hey, hey, easy on the face. I've only got one of these and the moustache is a rental!" Eric protested weakly.

"Sorry." Jackie's expression was blank as the maelstrom of thoughts and emotions whirled behind her eyes. She pulled the blush out of her purse and started working on his cheeks. Another instinct crept up in her. If she wasn't going to sabotage Shelly, maybe she could do something to make Eric mildly less appealing. Only that idea felt even worse that the first one. It was starting to occur to her that the stuff that worked in high school might not work anymore. She pulled the adhesive protection off the back of the beard.

Every shift when she applied this beard to his jaw, it was like she got to watch him actually become Santa Claus. It was like he just stepped off a Coke display. "Hey Santa?"

"Yes, Twinkle?" Eric was getting better and better at dropping his voice the second the beard went on. He could keep it up for an entire shift without breaking character.

"How many Christmas wishes do you actually get to grant?" It was a cryptic question. It was supposed to be.

The look in Eric's eyes was similar to that of an aged Santa Claus. It was amazing how many kids sat in Santa's lap and thought he could work miracles with people instead of just toys. "Twinkle. Santa knows who's been naught and who's been nice. And with the really nice ones, Santa tries really hard to make their wishes come true."

It was exactly the kind of answer she'd expect him to give if he was sitting in the big red chair in Santa's workshop. But there was an earnestness and a gravity in his eyes when he said it to her right here. In that moment, she wondered if she should just tell him what Shelly said and let things take their course from there. It was the one time that she thought gossip might be the right course of action.

"Hey." He playfully nudged her with his elbow. "Let's get out there and keep Christmas going, huh?"

"Yeah." She smiled, small but sweetly. "Let's go, Santa."

 **BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW**

Donna sat on the couch in Forman's basement quietly, gnawing on one of her fingernails. It had been a couple hours since her talk with Eric and the vague emptiness of morning talk shows made for perfect white noise as she got lost in her own head. Sometime after nine, Hyde came stumbling out of his bedroom. Early in the week, they didn't open Grooves early. No one came into the store until at least noon.

"Hey Donna man, what's going on?" He took a seat in his favourite chair. She said nothing. She sat transfixed, her eyes doing a thousand yard stare right into the television. "Oh crap, you talked to Forman, didn't you?"

"Yeah." Her voice was a little weak.

"Not exactly what you were hoping for, I guess?" Hyde chanced. He kind of felt this one coming. But this wasn't typical Forman style. Normally, Eric and Donna would have some hugely embarrassing public blow up that the rest of them would get to witness and then talk about for days. Sometimes you even got a good burn or two out of it.

"I just never thought about what it would be like if Eric wasn't there, you know?" Donna's eyes started to water a little. "It didn't matter what happened, he was always there."

"Yup. That's Forman. Reliable as they come." Hyde crossed his arms. "Of course, that's not what you want. So, why do you care how reliable he is?"

"Shut up, Hyde." Donna couldn't quite muster the strength to get to her feet. "I wanted to marry the guy, isn't that enough?"

"Only after dating Casey Kelso and running off to California." Hyde completed the thought. "Then after Forman left, you dated the most Kelso-like non-Kelso that we know. You don't want reliable. No woman who wants reliable ends up dating Casey Kelso. That's like going on a diet and then buying a Hershey factory. It's like telling Fez not to peep into your bedroom and then buying him a new pair of binoculars."

"He hides in the closet now." Donna felt like she could address the minor point and score a small victory.

"You don't want Eric, you just want him to be there." Hyde finished. "Makes sense. If I didn't have the Formans, I'd probably be some drifter or in prison like my uncles by now. But you can't just keep people around in case things go wrong. In the entire time I've known you, you've talk about the things that you want from life. You don't talk about Forman that way."

"That…"Donna paused. "That's not true."

"Yeah, it is." Hyde grabbed a joint he kept tucked into the back pad of the chair. He fired it up. "Look, I don't expect that this is actually going to be easy. It's probably going to suck. But it sounds like what Forman did this morning was take away your safety net. It's hard to blame him. No guy wants to be a safety net."

Is that what Eric was for her. It was hard not to think that Hyde was right. It was hard not to deny that Eric had been a convenient guy her whole life. Right there, across the driveway, was always the guy that she thought she could end up with. But when you were a kid, or even a teenager, it was easy to view your block or your neighbourhood as the whole world.

"It's not even that I feel like I'm losing my boyfriend, I do." Donna still sounded frustrated.

"No, it's that you can't believe he was the one who ended it." Hyde cut right to the chase. "You've always thought that Forman needed you more than you needed him. You never doubted he'd go out to California, you never doubted he'd come back after he skipped your wedding. He was always there. That's because Forman rejected things about your relationship but never you. Forman always felt lucky to be with you and he told you. Now, he doesn't and you want to know why."

Wow, talk about a direct hit. Donna felt a little staggered by that one but Hyde had landed. It was right in the weak spot of her psyche. That insecure place where rejection and betrayal hung out after her mother had walked out. It did feel like Eric was just rejecting her regardless of what he'd said. The fact that he'd almost couched like he'd just grown out of their relationship only made it worse in a way. "That was, wow. That was deep, Hyde."

"Yeah, Red was right. When you're at home during the day, you watch a lot of _Donahue._ " Hyde nodded and locked his eyes back on the television. "That or a lot of cooking shows. But Mrs. Forman does that around here and I'm pretty sure if anyone else tries to bake, her menopause acts up."

"Shut up." Donna laughed and frogged him on the shoulder.


	9. Hey You

**A/N: Sorry, I was on vacation the last week. Also, I was trying to figure out which song off this album to title this chapter after. Figuring that out had a lot to do with how I was going to write it.**

Tomorrow was going to be a big day. When Pink Floyd had released _Dark Side of the Moon_ and _Wish You Were Here_ , they had been two of the biggest selling albums in the history of Grooves as a record store chain. W.B had sent Steven the sales figures from those releases and they were massive. When the latest album was released tomorrow – less than a month before Christmas – he was expecting it to be big.

Hyde got to the record store early to find Leo already hanging around out front with a cup of coffee from the Dunkin' Donuts down the block. "Leo, man, since when do you drink coffee?"

"Not since I was in the army, man." Leo took a drink. "This stuff is artificial, it messes with your body, man."

"So, why are you drinking it?" Hyde felt the lock click and open.

"Because I didn't get much sleep last night and it's the only thing I could think of." Leo took another sip. "But it's awful, man." Hyde grinned and popped the door open. There was an area that they cleared out last night to set up the display for the new release. The truck from the Grooves warehouse in Chicago wouldn't be there until almost the close of business that night. Tomorrow, this place was going to be absolutely slammed. There would be kids in here grabbing the album, parents in here picking up Christmas gifts, burnouts looking for a new tune to spark up to.

They still came in to get _Dark Side of the Moon_. If he checked the sales charts for the store, it would still be one of their best-selling records since he'd started working here. That was six years after it had first been released. And Hyde couldn't tell you how many times they'd commenced a circle with _Us and Them_ or _Wish You Were Here_ playing in the background. There was something about the way David Gilmour played guitar that just mellowed you right out.

Hyde started his routine of getting the store ready for another day. Leo disappeared into the back to prep the stock room for what was going to be an insane few days. Normally, new releases sold for a little more than the stock that had been sitting around the store for a while. There was a temptation with something that you knew was going to move. Just an extra fifty cents or even a buck, nothing that would actually cause a customer to change stores but enough to bump the stores margins a little.

There was something inside of Hyde that hated that part of the business. But, then again, gas for the El Camino wasn't getting cheaper. Nothing was getting cheaper. That included rent on the space that the shop was in.

"Hyde!" He heard Leo shout from the stock room and it instantly got his attention. Leo never shouted. He couldn't even remember Leo raising his voice. The dude was too chill for that. Hyde bolted from behind the till and practically sprinted through the stock room. He was half expecting to find the aged hippy collapsed under a box. But when he didn't see him in the stock room, he stood there puzzled.

Then he noticed the back door was open a crack and he pushed through it. There, he ran into Leo standing over the prone form of Randy Pearson, seemingly passed out in the alley behind the shop. "I don't think he's breathing, man." Leo looked up, somewhat helplessly, at Hyde.

"Leo, man, go into the shop and call 9-1-1." Hyde instructed in a tone of voice he wasn't used to using. "I'll take over here."

Leo nodded and headed back into the shop. Hyde crouched down on to the pavement and pulled Randy closer. Yeah, the guy had had a rough couple weeks but he'd watched people go through rough stretches before. Sure, he came in reeking of bourbon now and then. And once or twice he'd been a little out of it. But who among them hadn't felt the lingering effects of a circle long after it was over?

Hyde gently jostled Randy and slapped his cheek to try and get him to come-to. "Come on, man." He grunted to himself as he shook him. In the back of his mind, he was reminded of some of the things he'd learned from Mrs. Forman over the years. Two fingers snuck in under Randy's jaw line to try and check his pulse. What he found would barely count.

He tried chest compressions. Pounding on Randy's chest until he heard the sirens approaching the alley. Leo stood over him, his eyes wide. He'd been a solider, he'd been in the movement after the war. It wasn't like he'd never seen people struggling to hang on. It had just been a while since it was someone who wasn't even twenty yet.

When the paramedics took over, Hyde and Leo just stood there looking at each other. Hyde decided to climb into the ambulance, leaving Leo to look after the store for the day. If he could, he'd come back later and finish up getting the store ready.

 **BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW**

When Eric got home that night, the kitchen was full. His parents were sitting at the table. So were Donna and Bob Pinciotti. Hyde was there. No one was talking. It was one of those moments where you instantly knew that something was wrong, even if you didn't know what it was. He tossed his car keys on the counter and leaned against it. He waited for someone, anyone, to start talking.

Donna's eyes were red and swollen. It was the only time he could remember that Bob Pinciotti had sat at the Forman's kitchen table without a plate or a napkin. The real telltale sign was Hyde's sunglasses. Normally, after work, you'd need the Jaws of Life to get those sunglasses off of Hyde's head. He liked a joint after work as a way of relaxing. The sunglasses were a way of keeping his bloodshot eyes from attracting Red or Kitty's attention.

"What's going on?" Eric had a note of, if not concern, definitely hesitance in his voice. He knew Jackie was okay. He'd just dropped her off at her apartment and he'd run into Fez out front. There weren't too many people that would cause this group of people to gather in this sombre mood around his kitchen table.

"Eric, honey, why don't you just take a seat." It was a typical way for his mother to deal with this. She'd ask him to take a seat when there wasn't a chair available. He put his hands back on the country and pulled himself up on to it in a seated position.

"Randy died, man." Hyde sort of sniffled as he grunted the revelation out. He blinked hard and buried his chin in his chest again. "Leo found him in the alley behind the shop and he wasn't really breathing. We tried to get him back, the paramedics tried when they got there but nothing worked."

Eric wasn't sure how to feel. He didn't know Randy at all. All he knew about Randy was what he read in that letter that Jackie and Fez had sent him a few months back. Then there was the day that he came back. But, other than that, he wasn't sure how to feel. He looked over at Donna who looked like she was on the verge of breaking down into tears again.

"I'm, uh, sorry man." Eric cleared his throat. It was sadness but it wasn't like when his grandfather or grandmother died. He knew them. Deep down, maybe, there was a part of him that was still blaming Randy for the Point Place that he returned to being different than the one that he left. "Do we, uh, do we know what happened?"

"The doctor told Steven that it was…what was it he said Kitty?" Red got up from his chair and headed over to the fridge.

"Pulmonary aspiration." Kitty headed over to the stove. Whenever someone died, his mother had a routine. The baking began and usually lasted well through the funeral. "Caused by alcohol poisoning."

"You hear that." Red came face to face with his son. "He choked on his own damn puke. That's why your mother and I worry when you kids go drinking."

Jesus, Eric thought. He wondered if he'd ever been that drunk. A lot of them had, no doubt. Those nights on the water tower weren't exactly sober ones. Evidence for that was the number of times that they'd ended up in the Emergency Room as a result. "Dude, that sucks."

"Yeah, man." Hyde got up from the table. It was typical of his mother that she'd want everyone upstairs for when he got home. But it had all been a little too much. Now, everyone was chafing to grieve in their own way. Hyde would disappear into the basement and raid his stash. Red would wait until the kitchen was empty then sit there with an Old Milwaukee. His mother would bake. Right now, his concern was Donna who seemed like she'd been on the verge of tears since he walked in.

He took his mother's seat at the kitchen table, next to Donna. "Hey, um, how are you?"

She gave him a look of disbelief, as though just asking the question was stupid. But he wasn't sure what exactly he was supposed to say or how he was supposed to feel here. "How am I? How am I?!" Donna almost screeched the second question out. "How do you think I am, Eric?"

"Upset." Eric avoided her eyes when he answered. "If there's something that you want to talk about, I mean…" She cut him off.

"Like what?" She challenged him. It wasn't shocking. For years, anger and sadness had gone hand-in-hand with Donna and he almost anticipated it in conversations like this. "You want me to tell you how I feel? Fine. I feel like I had a hand in this. I feel like this whole last couple of weeks has just been impossible and now this?" She pushed herself out from the table. Her anger, the depth of it, seemed to shock everyone. Including Bob.

They always told you that it was impossible to stay friends after a break up and now Eric was seeing evidence of it. "I'm just…I'm trying to be a friend. I'm trying to help. God."

"Yeah? Well stop trying." Donna launched herself to her feet. "I probably killed him, Eric. I definitely didn't help." She headed for the door to the kitchen before turning back. "And you showing up probably didn't help either."

Wow. It was like that one line brought time to a stop in the Forman kitchen. That was the first time since he'd been back that Eric could recall almost watching his father's eyes pop out of his head. Kitty dropped the cookie sheet that she'd been handling. Bob pushed out from the table and hurried to get Donna out of the house before things really blew up. Eric just sat there stunned. He'd seen her angry. He'd even seen her angry at him before. But not in a way that just looked like hatred.

The same silence that he'd walked into returned as he hunched over the table. The instinct to join Red in a cold beer was overwhelming. So was the instinct to head down into the basement and join Hyde. If he needed a reminder that he wasn't in high school any more, those last couple words from Donna were it.

There was the hard clanking of metal hitting the kitchen table and then the slow fizzing of a tab releasing pressure from a can. "Here, take this." Red sat down next to him. "That's a hard thing for anyone to hear."

"It's bullshit." Eric sort of muttered into his chest.

"Eric." Red's stern tone said all it needed to.

"No, Dad, it is." Eric could feel the anger starting to well up in his back. "I didn't know the guy at all. All I did was come home. And for Donna to do that…"

"Son, she's going to feel like crap tomorrow morning when she realizes what she said." Red took a swig from his beer. "You're young. You all do stupid things. But none of you are used to what happens when reality kicks you in the ass. Well, it just kicked Donna and she's angry."

"No." Eric shook his head. "She always does this. It's always my fault because I can't read her mind. I tried to be nice. I tried to help her even though I had no damn idea what to say." Eric got up and pointed at the sliding kitchen door. He settled for a second, beer in hand. "When's the funeral?"

"Probably in a couple days." Kitty answered.

"I'm not going." Eric shook his head. Then turned and headed for the basement.

 **BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW**

The funeral was comparatively small. The Pearsons weren't a big family. Randy hadn't had a ton of friends, though he'd definitely had more than his share of girlfriends. That was something that both Hyde and Fez had noticed as they sat up front looking around the funeral home. When he'd first that Forman wasn't going to be here, he'd been angry with him. It felt like he should be just because the rest of them were going through something. It wasn't like Eric.

But, after hearing about how Donna had blown up at him, it wasn't shocking to Hyde that his friend had decided to bag off this one. The store had been jam packed the last couple days. He'd felt run off his feet, particularly now that he was short staffed but in a way he'd been grateful for the distraction.

Both Red's muffler shop and Grooves would open a little later today. The Formans took a spot a little further toward the back. Fez, Jackie and Hyde had taken a seat next to Bob Pinciotti. Donna sat on the aisle. Over the course of the last few days, all of them had been grateful that they hadn't been asked to deliver the eulogy. Each of them, except for maybe Jackie, wondered what they'd actually say.

When Hyde thought about it, he kept coming back to what a terrible friend he felt he'd been since Eric got back. He'd kept Randy around not because he enjoyed his company – and he did – but because he needed the help at the store. Fez just kept bringing up the letter that he and Jackie had sent to Eric in Africa. Finally, Donna had just closed down. It was easy to tell that she felt guilty. Like it was somehow her fault that Randy had decided to go on a never ending binge since they broke up.

It was hard to tell which of the Formans looked more uncomfortable. Red just seemed to hate all funerals. Kitty had clearly sided with Eric after Donna had blown up at him and just looked like she didn't want to be here. Hyde figured that if Red hadn't been talked into pallbearer duty, he probably wouldn't be.

At the end of the service, the pallbearers gather to life the casket and carry it out to the hearse. Hyde, Fez, Leo, Red and Bob had been drafted into service for this particular task. It had been amusing to think of Fez, always afraid of anything dead, being asked to help carry a casket. But, it turned out, when his turn came, he'd done his job just like he was asked.

After the door had been closed to the car, the group of them wandered back into the parking lot. Bob's car, Red's Toyota and the El Camino were parked next to each other. Bob and Red stood off to one side talking to each other and Hyde figured that it was probably the right time to try and talk to Donna. "Hear it's been a rough couple days."

"Yeah." Donna let out a hard breath. "Probably has been for you, too."

"Store's been nuts." Hyde sat on the hood of Bob's car next to Donna. "You ready to talk? Heard you bit Forman's head off the other night?"

"Can you believe he didn't show?" The question itself was an indication to Hyde that he probably started this conversation off on the wrong foot. "I mean, what the hell?"

"Listen, I told Randy once that whatever was between you and him and Forman was going to stay between you and him and Forman but that isn't the way it's ever been." Hyde pulled his tie loose. "Forman didn't know him and with the way you blew up at him the other night, I'm actually kind of shocked that Mrs. Forman made it. The way I heard it, he was trying to be nice when you went after him."

"He was asking stupid questions!" Donna protested. "How the hell did he think I was feeling? You found my ex-boyfriend dead behind your store because he choked on his own vomit after he passed out."

"Sounds like you've got some stuff to work out." Hyde bobbed his head. "I don't think there's anything Forman could have said that night that would have mattered. You were going to blame him for Randy no matter what happened. Same reason that you're blaming yourself. Hell, I'm blaming myself because I told him a couple weeks ago not to pass out on the cot in the store after a binge."

"Well, why the hell did you do that?!" Donna vaulted off the car. "God, Hyde, you can be such a jerk."

"Do you actually think that where he passed out would have changed anything?" Hyde's voice gained a little gravel. "Some people can handle stuff and some people can't, okay? That's just the way it is. It's not Forman's fault for coming home early and it's not your fault for breaking up with him and it's not mine for telling him not to pass out in the store."

"He was just going to die?" Tears were starting to run down Donna's face. "Is that what you're trying to say? It doesn't mean anything? Nothing we could have done would have stopped it?"

A stiff silence passed between the two of them. "What I'm saying is that he didn't want to stop drinking." Hyde took a deep breath. "And that's not the only thing that was in his system. You weren't at the hospital, man. I watched my mom do this kind of thing for years. The only reason it didn't kill her is because she passed out on her stomach!"

Those hardened words cut into Donna. It was hard for her to hold on to her anger against Eric or Hyde or even herself. She did the most natural thing she could think of. She collapsed under her own emotional weight. Right into Hyde's arms.

 _But it was only fantasy  
The wall was too high  
As you can see  
No matter how he tried  
He could not break free  
And the worms ate into his brain_

 **BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW**

At the end of another shift, Eric stood outside the back of the store staring up at the stars. He didn't want to go home yet and he really didn't feel like there was anywhere else he could go. If he went home, he'd deal with all these questions about why he didn't go to the funeral today. He'd risk having Donna blow up at him again. This was one of those nights where he kind of wished he smoked, or at least he understood why people did.

The cold breeze ripped through him as he stood behind the store after the mall had closed. No Jackie to drive home tonight. This was actually the first shift where there'd been no Jackie at all. It was amazing how he'd gotten used to having her around at work. He'd almost felt a little lost when he had to put on his own beard and moustache today. There was no Twinkle operating the camera or handing out candy canes. The little guys who visited Santa's workshop didn't have the legs of the short brunette to cling to on their way out.

He laughed a little to himself. It felt like the first time he'd smiled in days. The door to the store room creaked open on its rusty hinge and Eric looked over his left shoulder to see Shelly Wessler coming out into the parking lot.

"Hey, Santa." She walked over with a little attitude. Her hips had an exaggerated sway. Her long legs seemed to give her more of a glide than a gait. "You look a little blue."

"Just got a lot of stuff going on." Eric waved his right hand around his ear. "You know today was Randy Pearson's funeral, right?"

"The guy who hung out with some of your friends while you were in Africa?" Shelly questioned. "No, I didn't. Car accident?"

"Something like that." Eric didn't feel like going into the details. "Everyone was there and they all seem pissed that I wasn't."

"Were you friends?" She leaned forward with her chin on his shoulder.

"No." Eric hung his head. "But it's like they think my going would have made them feel better."

"People die every day that you don't know." Shelly answered. "I don't think you're wrong."

"When Donna blew up at me the other night…" Eric paused just long enough for her to get a word in.

"Why'd she blow up at you?" There was a concerned look in Shelly's dark eyes like someone had taken a kick at her favourite puppy.

"I don't know." Eric shook his head. "The two of them had been dating when I was gone maybe she thought I was being insensitive or something."

"No offence, Eric." Shelly gently laid a hand on his chest. "But in the short time I've known the two of you, it's like Donna blames you for a lot of things that aren't your fault."

He looked down at her. In a lot of ways, she was so inviting. Comforting even. She was gorgeous in a way that was so obvious, so over the top. She had that long, feathered, Farrah hair and pouty lips. Her eyes were big, dark pools that could be soft and seductive in equal measure.

In that moment he wanted to lean down and kiss her. After all, she was Mrs. Clause. If nothing else, it was thematically appropriate. But something held him back. As much as he felt the urge, it was like his limbs arms were made of cement. They didn't want to embrace her and bring her close. He couldn't muster the urgency to kiss her right in this instant.

"Eric, there's a lot out there for a good guy like you." It was like she was reading his mind. The double meaning was so obvious to both of them. She leaned up and pressed her soft lips into his cheek. They lingered there for just a second. Once again their eyes met.

 _Hey you out there on your own  
Sitting naked by the phone  
Would you touch me?  
Hey you with you ear against the wall  
Waiting for someone to call out  
Would you touch me?  
Hey you, would you help me to carry the stone?  
Open your heart, I'm coming home_


	10. I Wish I Was Crazy Again

In a way, he couldn't believe that he didn't kiss Shelly. A good, long, lingering hug and a longing look was the best that he could muster as a way of letting her know that he wasn't saying 'no', just 'not right now'. His head was messed up. Sure, they'd been attracted to each other back in high school and, apparently, there was something still going on from Shelly's end of things. And he didn't know if there was from his.

He was human, after all, and she was…well, she was all woman. There was no doubt. And it wasn't hard for him to envision a world where he would have just grabbed her tonight out of some passionate sense of desperation. It would have seemed like some kind of small town cliché. He worked for her mother, at the end of the day. Technically, he even worked for her. She was running the store's Christmas events.

It felt like his nerves were shot. It was a struggle to keep his hands steady on the steering wheel and, with the way the snow was starting to come down, it wasn't the best time for that. As he headed down the main drag back toward his old neighbourhood, he saw a familiar El Camino tucked into the parking lot of a country bar, right under the neon Old Milwaukee sign.

Eric pulled into the parking lot next to the El Camino and threw the car into park. The bar was about halfway home. Not too far from his dad's old auto plant. It was a typical kind of dive country place. Some sawdust on the floor, a slightly crooked and unvarnished bar marked with some old neon beer signs. Leaning over it, his elbows up on the bar and his head hung down was Steven Hyde. The fro almost completely held the Budweiser on the bar from view.

"Hey, man." Eric took the barstool next to his best friend and put a hand on his shoulder. "What number is that?"

Hyde pulled back and stared at the beer bottle for a second. He blinked like he was trying to gather his surroundings. "I think it's four." He mumbled. "I haven't been here very long, I don't think. There was just so much crying and then there was so much yelling, man. It was a long day."

For a second there, on the drive home, Eric almost regretted not going to the funeral. He regretted not sitting there with his parents who had known Randy. He regretted not being there for Hyde and Jackie and Fez. Hell, a part of him even regretted not being there for Donna. After being shouted at a couple days ago, after being accused of contributing to Randy's death, he still felt like trying to take care of the gang. "Dude, I know I've said it before, but I'm so sorry."

"It wasn't just booze." Hyde admitted out loud. The first time he'd said it anyone. "They always think that you can't see the tracks, man. I just didn't know what the hell to do. I figured he'd hit a wall, flame out and just readjust."

That was typical Hyde. The same guy who once said that he couldn't rat Kelso out for cheating but he could try like hell to get him caught. It was the same guy who fearlessly ranted about Big Brother and tried to convince everyone that if they could just do what they wanted, they'd be alright. "Did he ever ask for help or anything?"

"Nah, man." Hyde downed the last sip of beer and flagged down the bartender for two this time. "I mean, it was obvious something was up but he never seemed like he was more than a bad hangover or one hard morning of coming down away from being fine."

"Hyde, man, listen if there's anything I can do…" Before he could finish the sentence, Hyde cut him off.

"You want to help, Forman?" He slid the other Budweiser down the bar. "Drink." The two of them sat there in silence staring down at the bar. For the first time in a long time it felt like there was something between them that they couldn't really talk about. Hyde and Randy had been friends. Donna and Randy had been more than that and now there was this big gap between the two of them that Eric was starting to think couldn't be bridged.

The little portable transistor radio behind the bar was belting out the country station that you sometimes got over the air from Sheboygan. Even for a Monday night at the beginning of December, the bar was surprisingly empty. There were a couple old drunks over in one corner, a couple truckers playing darts back near the entrance to the men's room.

His mind wandered back to work. Nothing about being back home felt like the place that he left. Sure, Red and Kitty hadn't really changed. But Donna seemed to be so angry with him all the time now. He rarely saw Fez any more. Even Hyde, there was something hanging around there. Yeah, if you spent a while apart, things were going to change. But he'd been gone months, not years.

But, then there was Jackie. Since he'd been back she'd been different but in a good way. The only one of his friends you could really say that about. He wondered if he was compensating. All those moments that he'd enjoyed with Donna, the non-sexual ones were the one he actually remembered the most. Like the nights the two of them spent lying on the hood of the Vista Cruiser. He was having those moments with Jackie now. Standing by the sink after Thanksgiving Dinner or all those times they'd shared a laugh while she glued his beard to his chin.

He looked over to find Hyde staring down into the bottom of another empty beer bottle. That one had gone down just a little too quickly. Judging by the smell of his friend's breath, it was closer to eight or nine beers than it was to five. And he understood. There were days where trying to be that unmovable rock for people just got exhausting. Father Carelli, in that little African village had once told him the story of the Hurricane and Rock. For people who lived in the hurricane, the Father had once told him, the rock looks mighty inviting once in a while. Your perspective on the rock would be quite different. But, the Father liked to remind him that the only lasting things in the world used rocks as their foundation.

The bartender slid another round of beers in their direction and, after setting his on a coaster, Eric got up and headed for the pay phone down the hallway near the restrooms. He was stopping after two, but he needed someone to get here and take Hyde and the El Camino home. It had to be someone Hyde would listen to and right now, there was probably only one of those.

He slid in next to Ma Bell's outpost at the back of the bar and dialled the number for his house. "Forman Residence". His mother's voice rang through the phone. Shouldn't have shocked him. He couldn't imagine that his mother slept well with him out of the house. At least that's what she told him when he was in Africa.

"Mom, it's me." Such a simple sentence, but capable of conveying a lot. "I ran into Hyde at a bar on my way home and…well, I'm going to need help getting him and the Camino home."

"You know, your father's not going to like having to get him at a bar." Kitty's voice had a little warning but not enough to scare Eric off.

"Mom, he won't listen to anyone else." Eric answered. It was true. Eric had seen Hyde look rough before but he didn't even look this bad when his mom left. You always heard stories about kids who died in high school. Hell, that was like half of rock music that came out of the early sixties.

"Alright, I'll talk to your father." Kitty was resigned. Eric knew that deep down, his mother was just happy that he'd called her in a moment like this rather than try to figure it out on his own. She hung up the phone and Eric headed back to the bar. It wasn't like he wanted to drag Red out here. He knew he'd here about it, too.

When he sidled up next to Hyde again, his friend looked out from under his sunglasses at him. "Took you awhile." Hyde almost clinked the beer bottle off his teeth. "Who'd you call to come get us?"

"My folks." Eric wrapped his hand around the beer. "How'd you know?"

"Dude, I can see the payphone from here." Hyde pointed over toward the restrooms. "But even if I couldn't, that's always been you. You've always been looking out for us, man. That's why it's weird that you weren't there today."

"I just couldn't do it, man." Eric shook his head. "It's not like I thought he deserved it or anything, but I just couldn't bring myself to care. It's like I blame him for coming home and having everything be different, you know?"

"You're different, too, man." Hyde nodded slowly as he picked at the label on the bottle. "The old Forman would have gone running back to Donna the second she showed any interest. But you stood your ground. I kind of respect it."

"You do?" Eric almost fell off his stool.

"Yeah, man." Hyde let out a belch. "Watched you stand up to Red, Cops, even us. But always figured the foxy redhead next door would be your kryptonite." Eric put his hand on Hyde's shoulder and gave him a little jostle. "So, you gonna go outside and wait for Red so we can accurately judge how pissed he is before we've got to deal with him?"

"It's snowing out there, man." Eric pointed over his shoulder with his thumb.

"Better snowflakes out there than Red raining his feet on our asses inside the bar." Hyde shot back quick enough to make Eric laugh.

"Alright, good point." Eric pushed out from the bar, spun and headed for the door. The wind had picked up and was starting to push the snow across the parking lot. Welcome to December in Wisconsin, he thought. He blew into his hands to keep them warm as he waited for the sight of the Toyota. He really wasn't sure what to expect from Red when he got there. Honestly, his worries were the exact same as Hyde's. A thunderous chorus of feet indiscriminately raining down on people's asses.

The car pulled into the parking lot down off the main drag and Kitty stopped it almost right at Eric's feet. Red didn't look pleased, but Eric had definitely seen his father look angrier. Eric swung around to his mother's side of the car and peaked in the window. "Hey, thanks for coming."

"Well, we just got done burying one drunken dumbass." Red climbed out of the car and stood facing his son across the roof. "Your mother actually cares about Steven. What did you think was going to happen?"

"Your father is trying to say that he cares about you kids and this is what good parents do." Kitty gave Eric a loving tap on his hands.

"No, I'm not." Red corrected his wife. "I'm saying we just got done burying one drunken dumbass and I hate going to funerals." Eric couldn't tell if Red was busting his chops or if he actually meant it. There was always a part of him that thought there was a little bit about Red that might be an act. But he never wanted to tempt fate when he was actually face to face with Red. "Let's get in there. Kitty, I'll see you at home."

The Toyota pulled back out of the parking spot and headed for the exit to the parking lot. Eric and Red stood there for a second. The grim set jaw of Red Forman was unmoved as he stared his son down. "How many have you had?"

"One and change." Eric answered.

"How long have you been here?" Red's hands were folded in front of him.

"Little more than an hour." Eric shrugged and they slowly headed toward the door. "I'm not drunk."

"I know." Red stopped in front of the door. "But you're also a hundred and twenty pounds. So, two more beers and you will be."

"So…should I finish this one?" Eric tilted his head at the question.

"Of course." Red looked confused by the questions. "You don't leave a mostly full beer on a bar." Red pushed the door open and the two of them walked in. Hyde was still parked at the bar, working on peeling the label off his beer bottle and taking a little time to make sure Eric's went untouched. "Figured this was a good place to retreat, did you?" Red walked up behind his surrogate son.

"Figured it was the last place anyone would think to look for me." Hyde polished off another bottle.

"You figured that the best way to remember your friend who died of alcohol poisoning was to go to a bar and drink alone?" Red took a seat between Eric and Steven.

"I was doing pretty well until he showed up." Hyde pointed down the bar at Eric.

"Listen, I know what you're going through." Red flagged the bartender down. "Old Milwaukee. Draft. When I was your age, I tried pickling myself a few times because of the friends that I lost on Guadalcanal and Guam. At the end of the day, you're here and they're not. Drinking isn't going to change that."

The two of them nodded. "That's true." Hyde stuck out his lower lip. "Still sucks."

"Yeah, it does." The pint of Old Milwaukee slid down the bar and stopped in front of Red. "But you ever worry Kitty like this ever again…"

"Foot in the ass?" Hyde guessed with a goofy smile.

"So far you'll think you have a second heartbeat." Red tossed him a sarcastic grin and threw back a swig of beer.

"On that note, I think I'm going to break the seal." Hyde tapped the bar with both palms and headed for the bathroom. After he got out of earshot, Red turned to face Eric.

"Now, what's wrong with you?" Red grunted as he turned around on his stool. "You've been quiet, you don't have a smart mouth and you're not twitching. Are you sick?"

"No. I just have a lot on my mind." Eric answered as the radio behind the bar began to play Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings.

 _I met an old friend this morning  
And I stopped him and called him by name  
I said, "The years haven't changed you  
But he said, "Good Lord, how you've changed!"_

"Does this have anything to do with the Wessler girl?" Red gulped down another drink.

"Wait, you know about that?" Once again, Eric almost fell off his barstool.

"Your mother is in that LOPP group with her mother Trudie." Red answered. "We found about that job shortly after you got it."

"Wow." Eric settled back down. "I thought you'd bust me if you found out I was Santa Claus."

"I almost did." Red laughed. "But then I figured, you're working. And, if you're Santa Claus, then no one is going to ask me to do it for a weekend."

Eric laughed a little. "So, you don't care?"

"No." Red was half done his beer. "So, what's going on with the Wessler girl?"

"She, um, she came on to me after work tonight." Eric made a concerted effort to avoid Red's gaze.

 _Then we stopped in at a tavern  
We had us a round or two  
We called ourselves old desperado's, old desperado's  
As old friends are likely to do_

"Well, you're not seeing Donna anymore." The elder Forman enthused. "What are you doing here?"

"Dad, I'm just…" Eric stopped and took a breath. "It all seems like I came back to a totally different place. Donna's pissed at me all the time, Jackie's nice to me all the time. Hyde's…"

"Listen, you can complain or you can do something about it." Red dug his elbows into the bar. "If Donna's angry with you, don't see Donna. But grow up. Don't sulk. So, you're not going to marry your high school sweetheart. Most of us don't."

"It's not that." Eric shook his head. "I should have wanted to kiss her tonight. I did want to kiss her tonight, I just…I couldn't."

"That's a pretty girl." Red nodded his head. "You could definitely do worse."

"You don't have to tell me that." Eric was getting more and more frustrated. "I just, I want to know why I froze up tonight."

"Yeah, well, I can't help with that, son." Red gave Eric a pat on the shoulder. Hyde strode back over to his seat at the bar.

 _We sat for a while and remembered  
Then he said, "Let's have just one more"  
I said, "I'd sure like to join you  
But best be goin' on home"_

"Alright, Steven, give Eric your keys." Red stuck his hand out and, without protest, Hyde handed the keys over. "Alright, Eric, you're taking Steven home. I'll take the Cruiser. Go straight home. I'm not coming back out tonight. It's freezing out there"

Red was the first out of the bar. Eric and Hyde were sort of dragging behind him. "Hey Forman?"

"Yeah." Eric nodded.

"Don't tell anybody or anything." Hyde stopped the two of them before they stepped out into the parking lot. "Glad you pulled over and stopped in, man."

"Yeah." Eric let the word hang. "For what it's worth, man. I'm sorry."

"Yeah." Steven nodded. The two of them walked out of the bar.


	11. Head Games

The funeral and everything had occupied Jackie's mind for a couple days. She'd almost been on auto-pilot at work. The little things about the job that she had enjoyed when she started seemed to annoy her over the last few days. Everything, really, had annoyed her. But, it felt like it started before that. It was like everything hit all at the same time.

She sat on the couch after the funeral staring at the television blankly, not even paying attention to what was on the screen. So much had happened since she lost that job at "Wake up Wisconsin". That was something that she'd wanted to do. It was only now just occurring to her that everything she'd wanted to be after high school, she'd never thought of how she was going to get there. Weather girl, Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, stewardess, actress, model, she'd never had the commitment to follow through on any of it.

That's what made what happened at "Wake Up Wisconsin" suck so much. She felt like she'd blown a real opportunity through no fault of her own. Her boss just happened to be psychotic. While she kept telling herself that, it felt less and less like it was helping. It felt like she was staring at the pieces of her life stretched out on the floor in front of her and, because she couldn't decide which piece to pick up first, she just left them laying there.

"Jackie." She could dimly hear Fez call to her as though he was off in the distance somewhere. She just stared into the floor, between the couch and the coffee table. There was so much whirling in her head that her thousand yard stare was imperceptible to Fez who was standing across the apartment in the kitchen. "Jackie!" He got a little more persistent and he head snapped up to face him.

"Yeah?" There was a vague look of annoyance in her eyes when she finally focused on him.

"What's wrong?" Fez chomped on the end of a Twizzler as he walked over to the couch.

"I'm just really confused and I think, maybe, a little sad." Jackie went back to avoiding his eyes. Her lower lip jutted out. "I graduated last year and I'm just…I'm stuck."

"Stuck?" Fez sat down on the couch with her. "You are working, though you will not tell me where. You have an apartment. You are just things out."

"No. I don't have anything figured out." Jackie shook her head furiously. "I lost Steven, who I thought I'd end up marrying. I lost a job that I loved." She paused. "And even when I want something, for the first time, I'm not sure I can get it. I mean, look at me, a girl this pretty should not have this kind of doubt. That's for ugly girls."

"What do you want that you are not getting?" Fez reached into the bag of Twizzlers and pulled another one out.

"It's nothing. Forget about it." Jackie waved him off and tried to pay attention to the television which halfway through broadcasting an episode of Taxi.

"Clearly it is not nothing, Jackie." Fez tried to reach for the remote but Jackie's arm dashed out and took it from him. "Why will you not you tell me what it is?"

"Because it's nothing, okay?" Her voice got loud and instead of leaning back on the couch she sat bolt upright. "Besides, even if it was something, it isn't something that you can help with."

"Ah, I see." The gears in Fez's mind started to turn. "It is about someone we know?"

"No, it's…" She had to cut him off. It felt like he was getting too close to the truth. "I think I might have a thing for a guy but I work with another girl who likes him and I think she's more likely to do something about it."

"So, why don't you just beat her to it?" Fez followed up, still not quite comprehending Jackie's problem.

"I can't!" Jackie protested, her frustration growing.

"Why not?" Fez's voice climbed an octave.

"Because, I can't!" Jackie bounced off the couch to her feet.

"Why not?" Fez's arms spread out, his palms upturned as his confusion grew.

"Because, I can't!" She was on the verge of screaming at him. Her restraint that time was demonstrated by the fact that she seemed to push the words out between gritted teeth.

"And why not?" Fez felt the need to match her in both volume and emotion.

"Because it's Eric!" She blurted out and immediately flung her hand up in front of her mouth. Her eyes opened wide and she was tempted to collapse down into the floor. For his part, Fez looked like someone had just hit him in the middle of the chest with a hammer.

"Eric Forman?" He questioned almost breathlessly. Of all the reasons he was expecting her to give, that one would have been pretty close to the bottom of the list. It was sort of like being stunned. It never felt possible. Of everyone in their group of friends, he would have thought that even he had more chemistry with Jackie than Eric did.

She let out an affirmative squeak from behind her hands. Then her eyes melted and she nodded slowly. In a way it felt good to say out loud. The lump that she'd carried somewhere between her throat and her stomach for the last week seemed to be slowly disintegrating.

"Who's the other girl?" Fez couldn't help himself. This felt a bit like an afternoon soap. His natural curiosity got the better of him.

Now, Jackie was back to regretting that she'd blurted this out in the first place. She didn't want to get into the detail but over the last few days it had been going through her mind. There wasn't anyone else she could really talk to. Normally, she'd go to Donna with something like this. She couldn't. Then she thought about talking to Steven but that was a non-starter. The final option for something like this was usually Mrs. Forman. Yeah, that wasn't happening either.

"You remember Shelly Wessler from high school?" She edged closer to the couch.

"Hot Shelly?" Fez replied almost on impulse only to be granted by another quick flash of insecurity in Jackie's eyes. "I mean, uh, blonde Shelly?"

"Yeah, that Shelly." Jackie huffed as she tossed herself back into the couch. "With everything that's gone on, I just can't see Eric wanting to get involved with somebody else in our group."

Fez thought for a second. Truth be told he could never envision Eric with anyone other than Donna. That was true to such an extent that watching Eric and Donna fight always made him physically uncomfortable. When he took a second and started to think about Jackie and Eric, it wasn't actually that hard to envision. It actually made him want to help her. "How do you know that Shelly wants Eric?"

"She told me." Jackie answered instantly. "I didn't know whether to be insulted or not. Like, did she just assume that I didn't want him? Did she just assume I wasn't a threat?" Jackie was slowly starting to freak out. "Oh my God, maybe I'm not as pretty as I think I am."

"Let's call that option B." Fez smiled at her. "Why do you not just tell Eric that you have feelings for him?"

"We've been so close since he got back." Jackie explained with a slight wistfulness in her voice. "You know, we actually laugh together instead of just at people when something stupid happens to someone? He smiles at me, he…" She paused. The next admission was really close to the bone.

"He what?" Fez couldn't help himself. It was like he was gorging and he just couldn't stop.

"He touches me." She almost seemed to whisper. "And not because he wants me. It's just like he wants me to know there's someone there for me, you know?"

"Oh my God, you actually like Eric." Fez sounded a little less stunned this time. Then a smile came to his face. "To quote Red, what are you going to do about it, dumbass?"

Jackie shot him a stern look before cracking a smile a laughing.

 **BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW**

When you knew that you were going into work at noon, it was like the morning barely existed. Eric slept a little late this morning after getting back late from the bar last night. Since he'd gotten back, he'd been up with the sun and he'd tried to be out the door before the rest of the house woke up if he could. As they got closer to Christmas, work just turned more and more into a madhouse.

They knew now that they'd have to do two Christmas parties this year. The first was next week when the Ladies Of Point Place would be holding their annual Christmas event. This year, Shelly's mom would be hosting the event over at the Knights of Columbus hall. After his dad told him last night that his parents already knew where he was working, it caused him to relax just a little bit. He was worried about playing Santa Clause at the LOPP Christmas Party while trying to avoid meeting eyes with his parents – even behind Santa's half-moon spectacles.

He pulled up in front of Jackie's apartment building just a little early. That knot from last night hadn't worked its way out of his system. There was something discomforting about it. Even his Dad's confident assertion that his recent single status meant he should go after pretty blondes like Shelly Wessler didn't mean he was going to.

When their shifts started at the same time, he always drove her into work and, of course, he always drove her home when their shifts ended at the same time. After getting the last two days off, he'd be working five full shifts with Jackie until next Saturday. She came out of the apartment building in that long tan coat with the white fur collar. For a short girl, she had a way of dressing that made it look like she had legs for days.

"Hey," he walked around and popped open the door to the Cruiser. "How are things?"

"Oh, you know." Jackie shrugged as she slid into the passenger seat. "Last night was a lot of thinking but I think I'm good now." She watched Eric swing around the front of the car and get into the driver's side.

"Yeah." Eric fired up the car. "I ran into Hyde on the way home. He was taking it a little rough."

"Without you there, Donna kind of turned her anger on him after the funeral yesterday." Jackie shifted in her seat to face him.

"Okay, so good decision not to go then." They pulled out on to the street and headed for work. "What did you get up to after the funeral?"

"Ice Cream, couch and an episode of Taxi." Jackie tried to downplay it. After accidentally blurting out more information than she intended to last night, she was determined not to do the same thing when actually talking to Eric. "Fell asleep on the couch actually."

"That doesn't seem like you." Eric shook his head slightly. "You seem more the goose down comforter and furry pillows type."

"What makes you think that I don't have furry pillows on the couch?" Jackie sprouted a bit of a smile and tried to evaluate the look on Eric's face.

"Because Fez definitely seems like more of the silk pillow type and I don't know how you'd resolve that conflict." He swallowed hard and awkwardly. "That's a real Jedi and Sith conflict, right there."

"Jedi and what?" Jackie's one eyebrow bolted upward. "That's a Star Wars thing, right?"

"Yeah, the Sith are…" Eric couldn't believe how few of his friends actually got into the Star Wars mythos. "Nevermind. Hope you didn't spend the whole night out on the couch, Twinkle."

That unexpected use of her nickname from work tugged at the corners of her mouth and widened her smile. She hadn't been called Twinkle in days. Just hearing it was enough to improve her day. "I got up once the colour bars came up on the screen and went to bed."

"That's good." Eric pulled them into the mall parking lot. "Santa can't have a lead elf with a kink in her neck."

"You saying I couldn't trust you to help me get it out, Santa?" And that was the moment that she almost put her hands up in front of her mouth to try and bring the words back.

Eric was a little dumbfounded. Was Jackie…flirting with him? Nah, it was just the playful banter that they did when they were at work. It was almost like Santa's workshop was a retreat for the two of them. "Now, it strikes me as the Elves' responsibility to build the tools for that task. Just Santa's job to leave them under the tree."

Jackie looked a little disappointed. It felt like an opening for Eric flirt back but he didn't take it. She wondered if something might have happened while she was away from the store. The last time that she was at work was when she'd had that talk with Shelly. "Hey Eric," she decided to chance it. "Um, I had a talk with Shelly a few days ago and she, um, I think she has a crush on you."

That was the moment the radio decided to chime in. It wasn't Hot Donna or Jerry Thunder or the Vixen Hour, but still it felt like WFPP knew how to mock them.

 _Day light, alright, I don't know, I don't know if it's real  
Been a long night, and something ain't right  
You won't show, you won't show how you feel  
No time ever seems right, to talk about the reasons why you and I fight  
It's high time to draw the line, put an end to this game, before it's too late_

In that minute, the air got still between the two of them. The awkwardness started to rise. He looked guilty and she wasn't sure that she should have told him that. "Yeah, um." Eric cleared his throat. "I was talking to her last night and, uh, she kind of came on to me."

"Came on to you how?" Jackie did her best to keep her voice level.

"She sort of got real close, and it was like she was trying to get me to kiss her." Once again, Eric felt the lump in his throat rise.

 _Head games, it's you and me, baby  
Head games, and I can't take it anymore  
Head games, I don't want to play the head games_

"But you didn't?" That was the only question that she could bring herself to ask. Really, it was the only one that she wanted the answer to.

"No!" He felt like he was a little too emphatic with that answer and he wasn't sure why. "I mean, it wouldn't have felt right. I don't know if it was guilt or what it was."

"So nothing happened?" Jackie nodded slowly. She was amazed that he wasn't asking why she cared. "Did you want something to happen?"

Man, he felt like he walked right into that trap. It was almost like she didn't even have to try that hard. Still, it didn't feel like he owed Jackie anything. What went on at work, those little lingering touches and the laughs that lasted longer than they usually did, they didn't really leave work. "I, uh, I don't know." Eric gulped. "I know that it didn't feel right."

That was the best that he could do. He felt like going any further wouldn't be right because it wouldn't be honest. The talk he had with Red last night actually helped. He wanted to get somewhere in his life. He wanted to start putting things in it that weren't just the Cruiser, his parents and the basement. There was also a part of him that was attracted to the fact that Shelly didn't really represent his past in anyway.

"Maybe, uh, maybe we should get into work." Jackie pushed the car door open and got out. Was he trying to leave an opening for her? Was she supposed to compete with Shelly? She wasn't going to if that's what he wanted. But something like that seemed way more like Michael Kelso than it did Eric Forman. More likely he just didn't know what the hell he wanted. Figuring that out was messy for her, it probably was for him, too.

The two of them walked through the back door of the store and headed to their separate changing rooms. Jackie started her transformation into Twinkle. As she pulled her leggings up, Shelly walked into the ladies' change room and Jackie did her best to avoid making eye contact. "Hey, Jackie." Shelly somewhat cheerfully popped open her locker. "Hope you're okay after that funeral yesterday."

"Yeah." Jackie murmured and tied her oversized black belt around her waist.

"Don't seem all that talkative." Shelly seemed to fake pouting just a little. "If you need more time, I can cover for you until we get our other elf in around dinner."

"No." Jackie protested quickly. "I think that I need to work through it, you know?"

"Oh, sure." Shelly waved at her reassuringly. "Take your mind off it, I totally get it."

Jackie adjusted her hat on her head and let out a deep breath. "I think I'm just going to get out there. The other girls never leave the candy cane jar full and we always run out early on the next shift."

She headed out of the change room and saw Santa walking across the store room toward her. As always with her his fake facial hair in his hands waiting for her help to put it on. She wondered how he did it the last couple days when she wasn't there to help.

She was tempted to watch him do it now, but that seemed wrong. "Need help getting your beard on there, Santa?"

"Please." Eric managed a half smile as he stood in front of her. "That last couple days I tried to do this in the mirror in the bathroom and I think Santa was starting to look a little like a homeless man who'd spent a little too much time drinking out of a paper bag."

She giggled and pushed the moustache on above his upper lip. "Well, we can't have the kids thinking Santa's got problems at home."

"Jackie, about earlier, I…" He started by she cut him off.

"Eric." Her voice was a little hard.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up or this beard is going on crooked." She grinned just a little and started on his jaw line.


	12. What a Fool Believes

It wasn't at all unusual for the sound of an alarm clock radio playing WFPP to wake her up. The morning show at the radio station was into pop songs, not rock songs. Max at the station allowed it because, he said, different audiences listened to the radio at different times and brought in different ad revenue to the station. They were, mostly a Top 40 format anyway. She rolled her eyes and then stared up at the ceiling.

That was the moment that she realized that she wasn't at home in her own bed. The pounding behind her eyes was her second clue as to what had happened the night before. When she felt the knitted wool blanket scratching against her bare skin, she finally made the decision to look to her left. There, among a sea of afro curls, was Hyde.

She winced and brought her hand up to the bridge of her nose. How did she let this happen? Last thing she could remember last night was the station Christmas Party. There had been a little…well, a lot of drinking. It was always that way in radio. She and Vanessa decided to stick together most of the night and they did. Right up until the moment that Donna decided she wanted to go home. Her mind had gone through all the people who could come pick her up from the radio station. Her dad was getting his back exfoliated at a spa in the Wisconsin Dells. There was no way she was calling Eric.

That left Hyde. So, she called him. In the half hour that it took him to get to the radio station she had another couple beers. The snow last night had been wicked. No wonder it had taken him forever to get across town. The one thing that had always been said for her was that she was a happy drunk. When she piled into the passenger seat, she had trouble staying quiet. There'd been a lot of drunken murmuring and mumbling as Hyde shuttled her home. There had also been a lot of goofy laughter.

By the time they got back to the Forman House, _The Tonight Show_ was followed by _The Midnight Special_ as she and Hyde dived into the beers that he kept in the basement shower. The television wasn't very entertaining. In fact, the episode of _Midnight Special_ that they had tuned into had Doc Severinsen hosting. Somewhere between the beer and the bad TV, the two of them had started making out on the couch.

She slowly shifted in the bed, trying to avoid waking him up. As she got to her feet, she did what she could to collect her clothes and slide them on. Poking her head out of the back bedroom under the stairs, she checked to see if anyone was in the basement. When she saw Mrs. Forman standing at the dryer, she ducked back down to stay out of Kitty's line of sight. It was one thing to have Mrs. Forman walk in on her kissing Randy last month. It would be something very different to get caught doing the walk of shame out of Hyde's room on a Saturday morning.

"Hiding from Mrs. Forman, huh?" Hyde snuck up behind Donna and scared the hell out of her. She backed up into Hyde's bedroom and took him with her.

"Look, I don't know everything that happened last night." Donna stuck a finger in his face. "It's all still a little…hazy?"

"Which part?" Hyde smirked. "The one where you needed to be picked up at the Christmas Party; the part where you sang an apology to me in the El Camino or the part where you shotgunned a beer, stripped down to your underwear and sang the Pina Colada Song during _Midnight Special?_ " He started to laugh to himself as Donna buttoned up her jeans.

"Oh God, I did all that." Donna winced and took a seat on Hyde's bed. "I was actually referring to the other thing?"

"Oh, that thing." Hyde nodded approvingly. "Yeah, that thing was my favourite part."

"Shut up, Hyde." She threw a pillow at him. "What are we going to do? Mrs. Forman's right out there."

"It's a Saturday." Hyde sat next to her. "She'll put a load in and then head to the grocery store. Mrs. Forman always does her grocery shopping before family dinner on Sundays. Just hang out in here until she's done."

"Oh God." She slumped. "Exactly what happened?"

"Well, it's a little hazy for me, too." Hyde subconsciously rubbed his temple. "But I remember you apologizing to me in the El Camino for being kind of bitchy at the funeral…"

"Hyde!" She protested and whacked him on the shoulder.

"Your words, not mine." He raised his hands into the surrender position. "Then we came back here, put on Carson and then started drinking."

"I remember the drinking. Not so much the Carson." Donna nodded slowly. "Then I remember music and the two of us talking."

"See, I don't remember the talking. Remember the music." Hyde ran a hand through his afro. "What did we talk about?"

"Sort of, how messed up things have been for the last month. Then there was why I think I can get past Eric and then how you got over Jackie with Sam and then…" Donna's mind started cycling through everything that happened the night before.

"Oh man, then we started talking about…" Hyde's eyes narrowed.

"Sex." The two of them said simultaneously. "Nothing good ever happens when a man and a woman start talking about sex in any detail. Particularly when they're both single."

"That's why that sixth beer was a super bad idea." He started rubbing his forehead. "I think the conversation stemmed out of Forman's three basic moves."

"Yeah, and then it developed into the stuff you and Sam did which was just…" Donna's voice trailed off. "And then it sounded kind of hot, so."

"That's what happened then." Donna fastened her bra. "Alright."

"In my defence, I have always kind of wanted to get on the big red ride at the fun park." Hyde chuckled to himself with a smirk and Donna laughed before chucking him on the shoulder.

"Shut up." She said through a laugh. "Come on, we tell no one about this. Agreed?"

"Yeah, whatever." He replied as the sound of Mrs. Forman climbing the stairs echoed over their heads. The two of them waited to hear the door to the basement click closed before leaving his room again. Both Hyde and Donna thought they had gotten away with it. Until they walked out of the room and saw Fez sitting in his usual chair by the door with the sounds of WFPP still mocking them from the radio in Hyde's room.

 _She had a place in his life  
He never made her think twice  
As he rises to her apology  
Anybody else would surely know  
He's watching her go_

 _But what a fool believes he sees  
No wise man has the power to reason away  
What seems to be  
Is always better than nothing  
And nothing at all keeps sending him_

 **BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW**

In the entire time that he'd worked at the department store, Eric wasn't sure he'd ever met anyone in management. So, it was a bit of a shocker when he got a note on his locker from the store manager's assistant telling him that he had a meeting with the manager prior to his shift on Saturday.

He was out of the house early and on his way into the store. It was the end of one of the longest stretches he'd work with Jackie this month. He was also starting to appreciate the fact that this job only had two weeks left. Jackie didn't mind getting picked up a little early on the way into work. In fact she seemed almost as curious as he was as to why he'd been called in early.

There was a second there where he debated getting most of his costume on before heading into the meeting, thinking that if he was in trouble it would be harder for people to yell at Santa Claus. Eventually, he decided against it. Whatever Mrs. Wessler wanted to talk to him about was probably pretty important and he figured he should try and take it seriously.

He sat in the reception area outside her office, twiddling his thumbs and waiting to be called in. It was totally different than when he worked at Price Mart with Red as the manager. Normally, the serious talks could wait until they got home back then. A slight ringing came over the intercom to the receptionist's desk and Eric took a deep breath.

"Mrs. Wessler will see you now." The receptionist smiled quickly at Eric before returning to her duties.

Suddenly, with his heart in his throat, he got up and opened the door to the inner office. Trudie Wessler looked like an older version of Jennifer from _WKRP in Cincinnati._ Her hair was very blonde and very blow-dried, not unlike Shelly's. She was shorter than Shelly was, a little. But she had this presence that left no doubts about who was the boss.

"Eric!" She warmly greeted him while holding a folder. "Please take a seat and thank you for coming in early."

"No problem, Mrs. Wessler." Eric was trying to get over his awkwardness as he took a seat.

"So, a few days ago, my daughter gave me some interesting news." Trudie Wessler set the folder down on her desk and took a seat in her chair. Eric's heart started to race. There's no way that Shelly would have told her mom about the two of them, right? "She told me that she thinks that Santa's workshop has seen five thousand kids already this year. I told her that she was insane. There weren't five thousand kids in the Point Place area."

"All I can tell you is that we've been really busy, Mrs. Wessler." Eric pushed a smile to his face. "It's been a blast, though."

"I know you have." Trudie opened the folder. "So, I took a look at the Santa's Workshop purchase orders for film and it turned out that as of the last requisition, you've seen over 4,800 kids in just your first three weeks."

"Wow." Eric gulped.

"This proved a couple of things. First, my daughter keeps close track on her paperwork, just like her mother. Second, that the two of you have managed to actually make Santa's Workshop profitable." She closed the folder again. "I called a friend of mine down at the County registrar's office and she informs me that there aren't five thousand kids in Point Place under the age of fifteen. And, once you factor in kids from homes that don't celebrate Christmas, I'm betting that you've seen every kid Greater Oshkosh area."

Eric wasn't sure where this was going. He wasn't used to working for someone who actually praised him. Except for that one time that Red did and it screwed him up for a few days.

"All this is to say, that unless the store burns down, you can expect to earn your Christmas bonus this year." Trudie Wessler leaned back in her chair. "I also wanted confirm that you know that in addition to your duties as Santa at the store this year, you and my daughter along with a couple of your elves will be making an appearance at the LOPP Christmas party next Saturday night. Also, you're going to be playing Santa in the Winter Carnival parade next Sunday. Both of which will be factored into the bonus you get on Christmas Eve."

"Thanks, Mrs. Wessler." Now Eric didn't have to try and force the smile. It just came naturally.

"My daughter says that you're going to be going to school next year to become a teacher. Is that right?" She leaned forward in her chair.

"Yeah, um, yes, that's the plan." Eric was nervous again. Every mention of Shelly by her mother made him nervous.

"Well, I don't know what we're going to do without you next year at Christmas." Trudie Wessler gave Eric a polite but maternal smile. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in accepting a position here after Christmas?"

That one caught Eric by surprise. He gave his head a shake. "Wow." He managed to croak out. "As much as I've loved working here, I don't know, Mrs. Wessler. Can I have a little time to think about it? I mean, I do need something until I head to class in September."

"Well, take a little time." She slid out from behind the desk and started to walk around it. "I know my daughter's very fond of you."

And it turned out that they were thinking about the same thing this whole time. He was starting to get a bit of an uncomfortable feeling right between his shoulder-blades. It turned out that the matchmaking tendency was cross cultural. It didn't matter if it was that little village in Africa that he'd spent months in or right back here in Point Place. Mothers were mothers everywhere.

"Yeah, she's a really special girl." Eric tried to say the nicest, most non-committal thing that he could think of. "I'm super grateful to her for this job."

"You're a good guy, Eric." Mrs. Wessler gave him a quick, warm but conclusive smile. "Now, get out there and keeping setting records as the best damn Santa this store has ever seen."

Eric gave thumped the arms of his chair with his palms and got to his feet. This meeting had a little bit of everything. It was awesome and uncomfortable at the same time. He headed down the long hallway into the store room like a man possessed. He felt like Redford prowling through the parking garage in _All the President's Men_. When he got to the men's change room, he angrily started to slide his costume on. At one point, he figured that he'd tied his boots so tight that he was worried he'd cut off circulation in his left foot.

WFPP usually played in the store until Jerry Thunder came on. Then the maintenance guys changed over to the pop station out of Madison. He could barely hear the Doobie Brothers above the din of the store.

 _He came from somewhere back in her long ago  
The sentimental fool don't see trying hard to recreate  
What had yet to be created once in her life_

 _She musters a smile for his nostalgic tale  
Never coming near what he wanted to say  
Only to realize  
It never really was_

He wondered if Point Place would ever outgrow being a small town. The place that he had romanticized all those nights in Africa suddenly felt every bit as small as that village he had been assigned to. It's mating and matchmaking rituals were, on some levels, every bit as socially constricting as those he felt he had left behind.

He grabbed the big white wig and adjusted it on his head. Then he slid the hat on top. Capping it off with the glasses, he took a deep breath and grabbed the prosthetic facial hair that he'd gotten so used to having glued to his face.

As he headed out of the change room, he couldn't help but feel just a little irritated. He knew that he had to push it down. Kids were super sensitive to any of Santa's moods. That was one thing that he'd learned over the last few weeks. If kids thought Santa was angry, they were more likely to cry. If they though Santa was sad, you never got them to the candy cane.

He walked out into the store room and saw Twinkle standing there waiting for him. It was hard to think of Jackie as anything else when they were at work. She smiled at him brightly, those perfect cherry lips curling back to reveal her teeth. Her feathered, blow dried raven hair flowing down past her shoulders out from under her elf's cap.

"How did your meeting go?" She reached out and took the moustache from him.

"Good, I think." He didn't feel like getting into the Shelly stuff with Jackie. He felt like it was his to sort out. The last time the two of them had talked about it, things had gotten a little awkward. It was like she was jealous…was she? "Apparently, we're helping the store shatter sales records or something."

"That's great." Jackie cheered as she pressed the moustache down over his upper lip. There was a playful, almost flirtatious lilt in her laugh when she was truly happy. It was one of those sounds that he actively tried to get out of her. It made his day when he heard it. "So, um, you're cool with being one of the elves doing the LOPP Christmas Party and the Winter Carnival parade next weekend, right?"

She'd been thinking about it. She knew that Mrs. Wessler was in charge of the Christmas Party and a part of her was mortified at the idea of showing up to that party looking like something that had just stepped out of a Christmas special. But, on the other hand, she felt like she wanted to spend the time with him. She felt like she could get away with it because it was the Christmas season.

"Would I leave Santa all alone to face the desperate older women of Point Place?" Jackie laughed again as she took the beard from him. "Of course, I'll be there with you."

"Great." He smiled. In his mind there was some way he had to convince her that he meant it. He took her hand gently and gave it a little squeeze. "Now, let's get out there and spread a little Christmas cheer. Okay, Twinkle?"

"Absolutely, Santa." Jackie laughed just a little and the two of them headed out into the store.

 _She had a place in his life  
He never made her think twice  
As he rises to her apology  
Anybody else would surely know  
He's watching her go_

 _But what a fool believes he sees  
No wise man has the power to reason away  
What seems to be  
Is always better than nothing  
And nothing at all keeps sending him_


	13. Honesty

Though Hyde would never admit it, he actually like Christmas. It was the one time of year that he actually got to pay back the Formans for all they did for him all year. And while he might never be able to get Red a Corvette or a Fire Chicken or a GTO, he could do what he could to get Red a gift that the old man would appreciate. He had poked around in the hardware section of the department store until he came across a new power saw. He figured he'd head over to housewares and see if he could find something that Mrs. Forman really wanted.

"Have you talked to Donna since the two of you did the horizontal mambo on Saturday?" Fez had come to the mall with him.

"From what I can remember of that night, I was the only one who was horizontal, man." Hyde let out a slight chuckle as he poked through the housewares section. He started looked knife sets, crock pots and anything he thought Mrs. Forman might like for Christmas. "Yeah, I don't know how I'm gonna be able to talk to Donna. Every time I think about her now I just see her naked."

"That's a bad thing?" Fez looked instantly confused.

"Nah, man." Hyde stood back up straight. "It is damn confusing though."

"Oh, poor baby, every time you close your eyes you see a naked, gorgeous redhead." Fez was trying to look uninterested in the fact that they were merely across the aisle from the women's underwear section of the store. There was a little part of him that had remembered on the drive over that this was the store that Jackie worked at. He debated trying to to get Hyde to go somewhere else but he didn't want to raise his friend's suspicions.

He figured as long as he kept them away from Santa's Village, he'd keep Hyde away from Jackie. Over the last few weeks, he'd noticed his roommate getting quieter but tougher. She retreated a little more but she was getting more decisive. Still, he couldn't think of anyone that she would less want to see while wearing an elf costume than Hyde.

Eric was supposed to be around here somewhere. Back when he'd had the conversation with Jackie about what feelings that she was or wasn't having for Eric, Jackie had mentioned that the two of them were both working here but she didn't say where Eric was working. Fez figured with his experience in the stock room at Price Mart, they had probably just stuck him in the back somewhere.

"Fez, man, which do you think Mrs. Forman would prefer? A new crock pot or a food processor?" Hyde pointed at the two kitchen appliances sitting on the shelf near each other.

"Does Mrs. Forman need a new crock pot?" Fez put his hands on his hips.

"Not really, I almost never see her use the one they have now." Hyde stepped forward and grabbed the box off the shelf. "Alright, Christmas shopping almost done. Glad I don't have to buy for Jackie this year. I was always trying to make that compromise work between getting her something expensive enough that she wouldn't complain but cheap enough that I wouldn't be broke until Valentine's Day."

"I hear that." Fez let out a nervous chuckle.

"How?" One of Hyde's eyebrows shot over the top of his glasses. "When was the last time you had the same girlfriend at Christmas and Valentine's Day?"

"In this country?" Fez idly tapped his chin as the two of them walked to the checkout counter. He watched as Hyde stood there trying to flirt with the checkout girl as she rang through the power saw and that food processor that he had bought for the Formans.

"Hey, so I'm not very good at the whole wrapping paper thing. Can you help me out?" He tried smiling at the blonde behind the counter but she wasn't buying it.

"Over near Santa's Workshop is our gift wrapping station." She snapped her bubble-gum. "You can take it there."

At the words "Santa's Workshop", Fez's ears perked up. He instantly tried thinking of how we could protect Jackie. "It's exam season, the senior girls from high school will be at the Hub all afternoon."

"I have to get these wrapped." Hyde tapped on the boxes. "If I don't do it now, I'll either forget and have to stand in line closer to Christmas or one of the Formans will end up stumbling across the box and it'll spoil the surprise."

"But do we really have to wrap it here?" Fez laughed nervously. "Maybe the gift wrapping girls in the mall are hotter?" He figured this was his best shot. After all, the way Hyde had been talking all day it was like he was looking for any excuse to think about a naked woman who wasn't Donna.

"What is with you today?" Hyde's voice got a little louder and a little more irritated. "Besides, man, they always hire like these reject former Cheerleaders to work as Elves in Santa's Workshop and if you're willing to stand there in tights all day, I'm betting your standards are pretty low."

"Or not." Fez replied quickly.

"Won't know until we try." Hyde got in line at the gift wrapping counter. Of course, the other reason for getting the gifts wrapped here is that the store wrapped their own merchandise for free. The Mall charged you for it. He waited in line looking around to try and find the Elves that were working in the Workshop this year. What he liked about the mall at this time of the year was that it usually stayed open just a little longer than the record store. It was the only way he was ever going to get any Christmas shopping in.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw long flowing black hair and a par if candy cane striped tights that seemed to be clinging to this one elf just perfectly. "Attention, customers. The store will be closing in fifteen minutes." Came over the PA and some salesperson roped off the gift wrapping line behind Hyde and Fez.

"Hey, man, check out the elf at nine o'clock." Hyde tapped Fez on the shoulder and pointed to the dark haired elf manning the camera pointed at Santa Claus. "They must be making hotter cheerleader rejects than they used to."

"I think that Mrs. Clause might be younger than she looks." One look at the dark haired elf that Hyde was fixed on and he knew it was Jackie. Actually, he was surprised that Hyde didn't make the connection. He figured that Hyde had probably memorized more of Jackie's body than anyone else. Of course, Fez knew that Shelly Wessler was playing Mrs. Clause. Anything to try and get Hyde out of the story with raising Jackie's attention.

They got to the front of the gift wrapping line faster than Fez thought they would and with only two boxes to wrap, he figured that they might actually get a couple minutes in the store before they had to be out at closing time. With the boxes wrapped, Fez figured he'd take one last shot at trying to get Hyde out of there. "Come on, Hyde, let's go home." Fez whined. "We are going to miss WKRP."

"What's with you? You've been trying to get out of here since before we got here, man." Hyde would have thrown his hands up in the air if they weren't holding shopping bags. His voice was just loud enough to turn a few heads, including hers. The gasp that Jackie let out when she turned, was just enough to tip off Hyde that she was here. "Jackie!" He spun and came face to face with.

"Steven!" She shrieked.

"The mall is closing now." The voice over the public address system rang through the store.

"Did you tell him I was here?" Jackie turned her accusing glare at Fez.

"You knew?" Hyde growled, turning on Fez as well.

"Ai…" Fez started to nervously twitch. "We, uh, we have to go." He turned and sprinted for the exit to the parking lot. Hyde thought for a second and then decided that he was going to be kicked out of the store anyway. Besides, he could burn her in the parking lot in a few minutes anyway.

"Fez, you knew that Jackie was an elf in Santa's Workshop and you didn't tell anyone?" Hyde caught up to Fez out in the parking lot. "Do you realize how many burn opportunities you robbed your friends of? That's a major violation of the code, man."

"I…I…I didn't know the while time and then I just…aiiii." Fez stammered out an explanation. Hyde walked around the El Camino and popped the trunk open to put the Christmas presents away.

"Now, since Jackie doesn't have a car, you're going to tell me how she gets here." Hyde crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"But, but I cannot tell you that." Fez protested weakly. "If I tell you, then I will have to live with an angry Jackie. And that is terrifying."

"Yeah, but if you don't tell me, then you'll have to hang out with an angry me." Hyde slammed the trunk lid. "So, what's it gonna be?"

"I cannot tell you how she gets here." Fez answered with a measure of defiance. "But I can tell you that if you look, you will find a car that you will definitely recognize."

"Fez, I didn't sign up to play Where's Waldo." Hyde threw open the driver's side door. "So, what am I looking for?"

"It is a car that you and I have spent many hours in." Fez answered, still hoping that his vague clues would be enough to tip Hyde off without actually telling him anything.

"Ah, it's the Cruiser." Hyde ducked into the car. "So, this is where Forman goes every day. Alright, glad we finally cracked that mystery." Hyde did a slow circle of the department store at one end of the Mall. When he came upon the Cruiser at the one end of the store with just a couple fire exits and the bay door for the loading dock. There was the Cruiser, pulled nose into a parking spot next to the fence under a flood light. Hyde pulled the El Camino up next to the Cruiser and put it into park. He got out and sat on the hood waiting for Jackie and Forman to come out.

Eric had actually seen Jackie turn and come face to face with Hyde from his seat in Santa's Workshop. Only layers of makeup and costuming likely kept him from being recognized to. The two of them popped the back door to the store open and neither of them was shocked to see Hyde there waiting for them.

"Well, if it isn't Forman and the elf." Hyde sarcastically shot from the hood of the car. "Forman, how did you keep this from us, man? This is hilarious!"

"Hyde, do you think you could lay off?" Eric groaned as he stepped up next to the Cruiser. "We just got off work. Besides, it' not like you weren't staring at her ass before you found out it was her."

"What?" Hyde pushed a look of fake disbelief to his face. "Whatever, man. I'm just shocked you were able to work with her without bringing the elf jokes home."

"And you!" Jackie turned on Fez. "How could you betray me like this?! I told you that he'd be like this if you told him!"

"But I did not say anything." Fez threw his hands up in exasperation. "I tried to keep your secret. Really, I did. Hyde wanted to go Christmas shopping for the Formans and he didn't want to go to Price Mart."

"Yeah, right." Eric popped the driver's door open. "Everyone knows you can't keep a secret."

"Sure, I can." Fez got angry. "After all, I did not tell you that Hyde slept with Donna!"

"Fez!" The sunglasses almost fell off Hyde's nose.

"What?!" Eric and Jackie spat the question out simultaneously. But neither felt as disappointed or betrayed as they thought they would. Mostly, it was just shock. It was something that neither of them actually thought would happen. "Whatever." Eric just shook his head and got into the Cruiser. Jackie climbed into the passenger seat next to him and Eric backed the car out of the parking lot.

As they pulled out of the parking lot, Eric flipped on WFPP and Vanessa's _Vixen Hour_ was obviously playing another heartbreak set list with the latest from Billy Joel.

 _Honesty  
Is such a lonely word  
Everyone is so untrue  
Honesty  
Is hardly ever heard  
And mostly what I need from you_

 **BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW**

Donna was sitting on the stoop outside the Forman's for the first time in a long time. When they'd gotten off work last night, Hyde had come running over to her place to let her know that Fez had spilled the beans about the two of them to Jackie and Eric. Once upon a time, she would have expected Eric's wrath. She didn't now. That actually kind of made it worse. When he was angry, she could at least tell that he cared. But she didn't expect him to ever bring this up.

Jackie came striding up the Forman's walk to the stoop and it was everything that Donna could do to not bury her head in her chest. "Jackie, before you start let me just say that I'm sorry…and I was drunk…and I'm sorry."

"Actually, I think I should be thanking you." Jackie took a seat next to Donna on the stoop. "I think I was having a little trouble moving on from Steven but hearing that the two of you had…well, you know…"

The fact that even as they were discussing this incredibly awkward situation and Jackie still couldn't bring herself to use the word 'sex' brought a smile to Donna's face. "Yeah, I was there, even though I don't remember all of it."

"Yeah, well, it's weird." Jackie sighed. "I think that there's always a like a temptation to go back if you can and like try to find a comfortable place again. I just don't think that that's what I'm supposed to do right now."

"So, you're okay with the fact that I slept with Hyde?" Donna was still a little shocked at how well Jackie was taking all this.

"I mean, it's a little weird." Jackie shrugged and avoided Donna's eyes as she tried to process everything that was going on in her head. "But, I guess since the two of us broke up and he's even been married since, I just don't really care. You know?"

"Yeah, I guess I can understand that." Donna nodded slowly. "You know, on the one hand I was kind of upset that Fez told you guys but on the other hand, I'm shocked that he kept the secret for five days."

"I probably have to lighten up on him." Jackie laughed. "I didn't speak to him after he got home last night. "

"Yeah, I heard that he let slip that you're the shift supervisor in Santa's Workshop this year." Now it was Donna's turn to avoid eye contact. "Honestly, I was surprised that you took the job. I always thought that you hated kids. Except for that time that you gave Kelso that egg to see if he'd really matured."

"It surprised me, too." Jackie smiled brightly. "But I really like it. The kids all seem really happy to be there. Even the babies. I mean, a few of them cry when they first sit on Santa's knee but our Santa is really good at getting them to laugh and it gets really easy after that."

"What are you going to do after Christmas Eve?" Donna was genuinely curious. Anyone who'd spent time with Jackie over the last few weeks could see a change in her. There was more confidence and a little less confusion. She seemed happier and more focused. When they first started hanging out, Donna used to envy Jackie a little. It seemed like she had everything she wanted. Now, with her Mom having run off and her Dad in prison, it seemed less and less like Jackie was going to keep it together.

But that wasn't the person that she was talking to right now. This Jackie seemed much more like the person that she first met. The kind of person who could have one good thing and seemed to turn it into ten. "I don't know." Jackie stared off over Donna's shoulder. "But I just feel like I'll find something, you know?"

"Sure." It was that kind of confidence that she envied. She'd talked to Marquette about enrolling in the winter term after Christmas and she'd heard back just a couple days ago that she'd been accepted. It meant that _Hot Donna_ was going to go from being a weeknight show on WFPP to the weekend afternoon shift. It meant six hour shows instead of three hours each night. It also meant coming back to Point Place on the weekends. But Donna didn't feel like she could ask her Dad to bear all the cost of her school. "So, Hyde said you're working with Eric. What's that like? You two never got along."

"It's really good." Jackie's smile grew just a little wider. Something that didn't escape Donna's notice. "He's a lot funnier than you ever told me. Also, it's just kind of nice to have someone there who is genuinely interested when good things happen to you."

"Yeah." There was a wistful tone in Donna's voice. There were things about Eric that were hard to find in other guys. Particularly other guys her age. But then, other guys her age weren't raised by Red.

"We also get a chance to talk when we drive into or home from work together." Jackie's voice softened. "He's not as twitchy when no one is shouting at him."

 **BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW**

Hyde was slumped down in front of the television that night. The gifts for the Formans were stowed in the trunk of the El Camino until Christmas. The only reason for that was that Mrs. Forman was known for finding new places around the house to hide the presents that she bought.

Over his head, he heard the hard lumbering steps of Eric coming down into the basement. He hadn't really talked to Forman for more than a few sentences at breakfast this morning. The TV blared back at him. Truth be told, he couldn't even tell you what was on. Eric jumped over the back of the couch nonchalantly and just started watching television.

"So…" Hyde huffed out. He hated the uncomfortable silences. Besides, Forman was his best friend. He could use someone to talk to and it was just easier if they weren't fighting.

"So." Eric answered back.

"Listen, Forman, I didn't want to you to find out that way, man." Hyde sat up. "It wasn't something that was planned. We just got drunk one night and…stuff happens."

"I don't care about that." Eric shook his head. "Really, it doesn't bug me."

"Like actually doesn't bug you or like fake-zen doesn't bug you?" Hyde pressed. "Because if it's the fake-zen doesn't bug you then all that's going to happen is that you're going to bottle it up for a few days until you do something stupid and you have to explain it."

"No, it actually doesn't bother me." Eric shrugged. "I've watched Donna move on before. It's nothing new."

"See, this feels like fake-zen doesn't bug you." Hyde leaned forward. "Like you're trying to convince yourself that it doesn't bug you but it really does."

"It doesn't." Eric's voice got louder. "It actually doesn't. It would be like you seeing Jackie with another guy after all this time. That wouldn't bug you, right?"

"Nah, man." Hyde shook his head. "After Samantha, and now Donna, I'm over Jackie."

"It's the same thing for me." Eric's voice even back out. "If you want to know what did bug me, I don't think you needed to stick around just to burn Jackie."

"Dude, since when do you care what happens to Jackie?" Hyde scoffed in disbelief.

"I mean, she's trying really hard to put things together." Eric was straining to explain in a way that made him sure that he was talking about Jackie and not himself. "She could use a little support. At work she actually talks less."

"So that's what it takes." Hyde had a laugh. "If I'd known that, I would have tried to get her a job when we were together."

"See, that's why I'm talking about, man." Eric slapped a hand off his knee. "We're all supposed to be friends and it seems like we've spent the last few weeks just sniping at each other."

"And that's different how?" Hyde laughed. "Don't go all girly on me, Forman. It's Christmas the sugar and spice crap is already starting to wear me out."

"I just think it would be nice to have everyone hang out more than two at a time for once." Eric grumbled. "Kelso will be home for Christmas."

"Listen, Forman man, you can't just wish for the way things were." Hyde got very serious. "I may have gone a little hard on Jackie yesterday and I don't know what kind of weird friendship the two of you have going but if it'll make you stop whining, then I'm sorry, alright?"

The two of them sat in silence for a few seconds. "So, what the heck do you do at that store, anyway?"

"Depends on the shift." Eric shrugged. "It's just a seasonal thing. I'll be gone after Christmas."

 _If you search for tenderness  
It isn't hard to find  
You can have the love you need to live  
But if you look for truthfulness  
You might just as well be blind  
It always seems to be so hard to give_


	14. Babe

_**A/N: Thanks to all my super reviewers and everyone who has favourited or followed this story since the last update. Since I made you all wait a while for this update, I also made it a long one. Enjoy!**_

After eight hours in the Santa suit, Eric couldn't say that he was looking forward to three more at the LOPP Christmas Party but it didn't seem like he had much in the way of options. He had to change suits at lunch when the last kid before his break had an accident. Luckily, the store kept three Santa suits in rotation between the backroom, Eric's locker and the dry cleaner.

He grabbed a chocolate bar out of the vending machine in the staff lunch room and waited for Jackie. The Santa's Workshop gang would be him, Jackie, and Shelly as Mrs. Claus. There was no need for a candy cane elf tonight in a room full of grownups. The branch office for Santa's workshop was being set up by Shelly Wessler over at the Knights of Columbus Hall this afternoon while the rest of them were at the store. He'd been playing Santa for weeks, but it was finally starting to feel like Christmas.

"You know, I thought you'd smell like pee for a lot longer than you actually did." Jackie did a good job a faking being impressed. "You realize that everyone is going to see us at this Party, right?

"Yeah, but they probably won't recognize me." Eric shrugged. "I mean, I'll probably be forty before I can actually grow facial hair, so no one knows what I look like with a beard."

"Also probably has something to do with the fact that Santa weighs like twice what you do." Jackie giggled as the two of them headed for the back door to the store. Three more hours in a Santa suit wouldn't be the worst thing. He popped the door to the Cruiser open and dropped in behind the steering wheel. Jackie got in next to him and he fired up the car. "Eric. What am I going to do when some of these women see me?" She swallowed nervously. "I know most of them from when my parents still had a country club membership."

"You haven't seen most of them since your Dad went away?" Eric pulled the car out of the parking spot and headed across the lot.

"You don't know these people." Jackie pulled her elf's hat down over her eyes. "They'll look down on you if you eat the wrong cheese. They're not exactly going to open their arms to someone whose Dad is in prison and whose Mom is under some bar – or worse, bartender – in Mexico."

He pulled the Cruiser on to the road and headed toward the Knights of Columbus Hall on the North end of town. "Jackie, listen, over the last few weeks I've met a lot of bad kids and even worse parents playing Santa Claus and it's taught me two things. First, if Santa actually had a naughty and nice list, way more kids would be on the naughty list than the nice list. Second, no one gets to look down on you. You're caring and you're funny and you're really tough. You could make excuses but you don't and I…well, I admire that."

Her eyes got really big for a second. People didn't usually tell her what they thought of her in a way that she took seriously. Whenever Steven or Michael would say something nice about her, she just assumed it was an attempt to move the conversation toward sex. Eric had a tendency to just start rambling when he had something on his mind that he didn't know how to get out. It was like if he just tried to push all the words out at the same time, his tongue would sort them out.

"Eric, that was very sweet." Jackie reached over to the steering wheel and put her hand on top of his. It was a gesture that she didn't really understand. But it felt natural. She tried to downplay it, turn it into a good-natured pat on the knuckles before pulling her hand back and continuing to sit nervously in the passenger's seat.

The two of them sat in silence for the remainder of the short drive to the Hall. Eric tried not to think about what would happen if he got pulled over. He tried to envision a cop pulling over Santa Claus driving an Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser. It brought a smile to his face as he stepped out into the snow of the parking lot. He looked over to see Jackie bundled up in her coat. He held the door for her on the way into the Hall. It didn't even occur to him that kids probably shouldn't see Santa climbing out of a car on a night like tonight. He was supposed to be the stuff of flying reindeer after all.

Once they got into the Hall, it was obvious that Shelly had spent the day trying to turn it into a kind of paper mache winter wonderland with candy canes and snowmen strategically placed around the floor and a ton of cotton snowballs around the chair where Eric expected he was going to have to take his place for the next three hours. Jackie hung her coat up as Eric cleared his throat, lowered his voice and headed into the mass of waiting people.

"Jackie, honey, good thing I found you." Mrs. Forman came running over to Jackie when she recognized the long raven hair without the elf hat on. "I wanted you to give Eric this for getting up early and shovelling the driveway before going to work this morning." Kitty slipped Jackie a five dollar bill. "If Red knew I was giving it to him, I'd never get that vein in his neck calmed down."

Jackie laughed a little to herself and took the money. "I'll make sure he gets it, Mrs. Forman." Jackie smiled at the older woman fondly. She always had the feeling that Mrs. Forman had a soft spot for her. Her green tunic rode up as she found a pocket for the money.

"My, my, isn't that costume…tight." Kitty wearily observed.

"Yeah, they don't really give us a choice." Jackie offered an explanation. "It seems to work in terms of happy kids. I feel like the babysitter every little guy has a crush on sometimes." She could tell that Mrs. Forman wanted to say something else but instead, she just pursed her lips and pushed a smile out between her teeth.

Eric was already seated about halfway across the hall with Shelly Wessler fawning all over him like the doting Mrs. Claus she was dressed to be. It was hard for Jackie not to roll her eyes at that. All the way at the far end of the hall, there sat what looked to be a brand new car, or else one that someone had worked very hard to get into showroom condition. Next to it was the LOPP raffle drum. Every year, leading up to the LOPP Christmas Party, various LOPPs around town sold raffle tickets as a way of raising money for a local cause – usually the hospital auxiliary.

This was a mostly adult party, but no doubt between Trudie Wessler and Kitty Forman, it had gotten around to a lot of the LOPP members that Eric Forman was playing Santa Claus. Some of these middle aged moms, long ignored by their often well-fed and otherwise occupied husbands would get a slight thrill from sitting in Santa's lap this evening. Boney as Eric was, she wondered if he'd get anything out of it.

She walked over and took her place behind the camera. There wouldn't be too many people lining up for photos with Santa, she figured. Likely as not, they wouldn't even really do business until the spiked punch really started flowing. Jackie made sure the camera was all set before walking over to a spot over Eric's shoulder.

"Hey, your mom wanted me to give this to you for shovelling the driveway this morning." Jackie whispered in his ear and pressed the bill into his palm.

"Do me a favour." Eric replied in a hush from behind his fake moustache. "Take the money and go grab a few raffle tickets. I'd really like to win that GTO for Red for Christmas."

The inherent selflessness brought a smile to Jackie's face. It also made her think of her conversation with Mrs. Forman. If Red ever found out that Kitty gave Eric money for something he would have expected him to do anyway, he probably would have been angry. Finding out that Eric then used it on his Dad likely would calm Red's anger a little bit.

Checking to see if anyone was headed for the lineup to get their picture taken with Santa, Jackie decided to head over to the raffle table. No one even thought twice when an elf got into the line at the raffle table to buy a few tickets. She picked up ten tickets for the five dollar bill and stuffed them into the pocket of her tunic where the bill was. Before heading back over to her spot behind the camera, Jackie's eyes met Bob Pinciotti's across the Hall.

Of course Bob would be at something that had a bunch of single, middle aged women at it. He gave her a Bob smile and a polite wave as he made his way over. "Hey there, ho there, Hi there." Bob greeted Jackie as he got in line to get his picture taken with Santa. "I didn't know you were one of Santa's elves this year."

"Yeah, well I needed the job and this way I get to help spread the Christmas spirit to some young kids." Jackie shrugged, her hands landed with a gentle slap against her thighs. "Besides, it gets me a discount on my shopping."

"Yeah, well, I always love it when they bring Santa Claus to these things." The smile on Bob's face grew wider. "Mind if I get a picture?"

"Not at all, Mr. Pinciotti." Jackie cheered. "Go right ahead." When Bob Pinciotti took a seat on Eric's knee, Jackie thought it was for sure going to give way. Instead, she saw Eric grimace and quickly grit his teeth before adjust to support Bob.

"Ho, Ho, Ho." Eric thundered in his deepest Santa Claus voice. "If it isn't little Bobby Pinciotti."

"Yeah, it is." Bob seemed stunned. "How did you know that?"

"Santa knows everything about you." Eric gave Bob the brightest smile he could muster. "Like the Sherriff's star that you wanted when you were a little boy. Even the deer rifle you asked for so you could go hunting with your Dad." In this moment, Eric was so happy he listened to Donna when she talked about her parents back when they were in counselling. There was a slightly confused, slightly wistful look on Bob's face as he listened. "What can Santa do for you this year, Bobby?"

"I don't know, Santa." Bob still looked puzzled. You always got the feeling that Bob Pinciotti's inner child never lived too far below the surface. It seemed to be right on the surface right now. "I guess, maybe a new lady if you can swing it Santa. I'm gonna be a little lonely around the house once my daughter goes to school."

"Well, I don't know if I can make that work, little Bobby." Eric gently chucked Bob on the chin. "But Santa will see what he can do. Now, smile for the camera." Eric pointed at the camera and a giant smile sprouted on Bob's face. Jackie took a quick snapshot. Eric reached into the interior pocket of his red suit and pulled out one of the candy canes he always kept in case they ran out at the Elf station in the store. "Merry Christmas, Bobby."

"Thanks, Santa." Bob took the candy cane and headed back into the crowd. Eric gave his leg a rub and tried to get the feeling back into it. He wasn't expecting adults to want to sit on Santa's lap and he really wasn't expecting it of Bob Pinciotti. However, Bob had started the trend. By the time he got up, a small line had started to form. A few were single mothers, but most were couples that were probably just going to stand on either side of Santa's chair and get their picture taken.

One by one, Eric spent the next two hours seeing them all. Some of them were teachers from school or coworkers of his mom's at the hospital. There were some of Jackie's country clubbers, that world that straddled the Chamber of Commerce and the county Republican Executive. After two hours, Trudie Wessler let out a hard whistle and tapped on the microphone to command everyone's silence. "Everyone, I want to thank you all for coming to the 38th LOPP Christmas Social." There was a round of applause. "This event was first put together right after the Pearl Harbour attack in 1941 as a way to rally the community around the war effort. Until 1973, all proceeds west to the USO. In 1973, that was changed to the Point Place Hospital Auxiliary and it's my pleasure to announce that this year we set a new fundraising record for the raffle draw at over $26,000 that we'll be able to donate."

The room broke into applause. "Of course, that's only half the story. The other half is the draw for his beautiful burgundy, two door convertible 1967 Pontiac GTO. I'm told the engine is a 389 and it's capable of more than 330 horsepower, so someone is getting a real hot ride here."

Mrs. Wessler stuck her hand into the drum and fished around for the ticket stub. For her part, Jackie couldn't remember praying this hard for anything in her life. She squeezed the tickets in her right hand. Mr. Forman had to give up his Corvette when he thought Mrs. Forman was pregnant a couple years ago. A GTO wasn't a Corvette, but she was sure that he wouldn't mind. Come on.

She stared down at the numbers and waited for the call. Trudie Wessler pulled a stub and started reading. "7-8-5-5-1-0-1" They waited to see if anyone in the room reacted. All the stubs had phone numbers on them in case the winner wasn't in the room. That way they could be called later on. After reading the number on the ticket, Jackie couldn't believe it. She held the squeal in and rushed over to Eric shaking the ticket furtively. "You did it!" She whispered exuberantly. "You won." She squeezed the ticket even harder.

Eric's eyes almost shot out from under his Santa hat. "Holy crap!" He raised a glove to cover his mouth. There were certain things that people just shouldn't hear Santa Claus say. They only had another hour to go. "Jackie, hold on to that ticket and we'll talk to Mrs. Wessler after the party's over." The one thing that you could count on in this sleepy suburb was that the adults didn't feel a great need to be out late.

Sure enough, shortly after the draw, the Hall started to clear out. Eric got up and walked around to be as social as he could be as Santa Claus. It was all he could do not to limp around after Bob almost crushed his left knee. Fighting the bruise and trying to keep his voice in a deep baritone were almost contrary impulses.

"Santa, you just look adorable this year." Kitty was a couple of punches deep and more giggly than usual. "How was your night? Were the Ladies of Point Place good little girls this year?"

"Oh, I think we're going to have a lot of very happy Christmas mornings in Point Place this year." Eric kept his voice deep until he was sure that he was talking only to his mom. The crowd was starting to noticeably thin out.

"Doesn't Jackie look so cute in her little elf outfit." Kitty pointed over Eric's shoulder where Jackie had started helping Shelly clean up the temporary Santa station.

"I guess." Eric shrugged. Like he hadn't spent the last three weeks casting quick glances every time Jackie would bend over and her green tunic would ride up, exposing the long, tight, candy cane striped tights underneath.

"You guess?" Kitty's voice shot up both in pitch and volume unexpectedly. Eric's eyes almost shot out of his head as he worried that his mom had blown his cover. "Sometimes, your father's right you can be such a dumbass."

"Alright, Kitty." Eric had never been quite so relieved to see Red. "Why don't we get you home, huh?" Red gently took his wife by her shoulders and turned her toward the exit. Before he was out of range, Red leaned back and whispered a warning to Eric. "Don't be stupid taking Jackie home."

It was cryptic in a way that his dad so rarely was. What was the stupid thing to do here? Would it be just dropping her off and going home? Would it be making a move on her? As confused as he was before, Red's advice – if that's what it was – actually made things worse. He headed back over to help Jackie and Shelly clean up. Cleaning up the cotton and packing the paper mache figures took most of the time. The chair they used for Santa actually was property of the hall, so all they had to do was cart it into a backroom.

By the time they were done cleaning up, they were staring at an empty hall with a collection of Euchre and cribbage banners hanging from a far wall and the faint smell of stale beer coming from the kitchen. It was one of those little smells of home that let you know that you were experiencing the holiday season in a way you'd remember. Eric used the few free minutes to duck into the Men's room and finally change out of his Santa Claus costume after close to eleven hours.

On his way out of the men's room, Eric ran into Mrs. Wessler who was closing up the kitchen in the hall. "Mrs. Wessler!" Eric shouted after his boss. "Um, I don't know what we were planning on doing with the car after tonight…"

"The dealer who donated it is going to hold on to it until after we contact the person who won the raffle." Mrs. Wessler answered with a slightly Stepfordian smile. "Don't worry about the car, I've got it taken care of."

"That's the thing." Eric reached into his pocket and grabbed the raffle ticket that Jackie had given him. "I won." He handed the ticket to Mrs. Wessler who took one look at it and then looked back up at Eric. "On Monday, I'll let you know where you can pick it up." She handed the ticket back to Eric. "Congratulations, Eric. Merry Christmas." She headed out a back door to the hall.

Eric walked back out into the main hall and saw Jackie standing there in her coat waiting for him. "Alright, Twinkle, you ready to head home?"

"So ready." Jackie answered with a yawn. "Let's get out of here, Santa." She gave him a playful shove toward the door of the Hall. The two of them climbed into the Vista Cruiser and Eric fired up the engine. "Can you believe you won the GTO?"

"No." Eric shook his head, staring at the steering wheel. "I don't want to sound like I'm feeling sorry for myself, but aside from this job it doesn't feel like a lot has really gone right for me since I got back."

"I know the feeling." Jackie let her head bob gently in comprehension. He put the car in drive and started pulling out of the parking lot. "The time I've spent with you has probably been my favourite part of the holidays so far."

"Me, too." He laughed quietly, sardonically. "Who would have thought that when I got home early?" The silence between them in moments like this was no longer awkward, it was anticipatory. Like watching two chess players sitting across a table, carefully moving pieces of their own emotional evolution into place. "I actually find myself looking forward to going into work. I wonder what's going to happen the day after Christmas?"

The day after Christmas, yeah she'd thought about that. It wasn't like they'd stop seeing each other or stop hanging out. But it was something about Santa's workshop. It was like it was a universe that was unique to the two of them. Like it created a place where the two of them could let their guard down. It felt like, if something didn't happen between the two of them by Christmas, then it wasn't going to happen.

"Are you looking forward to the parade tomorrow?" She tried to change the subject to lift a little of the emotional weight that the conversation was carrying.

"Not really." Eric admitted. "I like having Sundays off. It's one of the few nights that I get to sleep in."

"Yeah, that's kind of nice." Jackie nervously started to play with her fingers as Eric pulled up in front of her building. "Hey Eric, why don't you pull around back and come up for a glass of egg nog?"

"Sure?" He seemed confused. Inside his head, a thousand questions were engaged in a sprint from his brain to his tongue and he couldn't think of a good way to process them all. He pulled the car into the visitor's parking behind the building and the two of them headed inside.

"I didn't really figure you for the egg nog type." Eric attempted to make small talk as they climbed the stairs to her apartment.

"I'm not, really, but Fez is in love with everything about Christmas in America, so he bought like a case of it about a week ago." Jackie pushed open the door to the apartment and flicked on the light. "Take a seat on the couch, I'll pour us a couple glasses."

Maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe it was actually being up here alone in her apartment with her but he let his eyes linger on her as she walked away. His gaze walked its way up her tight toned calves, following the swirling red and white lines of her elf tights until they disappeared under the green tunic and the gold belt that tied it closed around her waist. "Hey, where is Fez anyway?" He snapped out of his trance when he realized there was a possibility they weren't alone.

"He heard something about a Christmas disco in Kenosha tonight and he decided to go with some of the girls from the hair salon." Jackie brought their drinks in from the kitchen. She took a seat on the couch next to him. She put a hand on his knee lightly and pointed her glass at him. "Merry Christmas, Santa."

"Merry Christmas, Twinkle." A smile sprouted at the corners of Eric's mouth as the glasses clinked together. What came over him in that minute, he wasn't really sure. He just leaned forward and went for it. It was something about her smile or the welcoming pink of her lips. He lightly kissed her at first. She shifted her glass from one hand to the other and brought her left hand up to caress his cheek. When they finally separated, he looked into her eyes for a second.

The strains of WFPP came through clearly from the radio that sat on the kitchen counter. Neither of them knew what to do next. Jackie nervously chewed on her lower lip, waiting for him to say something, anything. He seemed frozen. His mind clearly hadn't gotten to the beyond what he was going to do when he kissed her. As she heard the light piano intro echo from the radio, an idea popped into her head. She took his glass from him and set it next to hers on the coffee table.

"Come on, Santa, dance with me." She took him by the hand and pulled him up off the couch. She wrapped her arms around his neck and they started to shuffle around the carpet of the living room.

 _Babe I'm leaving  
I must be on my way  
The time is drawing near  
My train is going  
I see it in your eyes_

"I hear this song everywhere." He said, like he was still trying to regain control of his brain.

"It's number one." She smiled up at him as she flung her hair over her shoulders. "I love this song."

"And you used to make fun of me for being a Styx fan." He chuckled lightly as his hands slowly migrated from her waist, heading for a meet up somewhere in the small of her back.

 _'Cause you know it's you babe  
Whenever I get weary  
And I've had enough  
Feel like giving up_

She laid her head on his chest and was almost instantly mesmerized by the hard rhythmic beating of his heart. His nerves were tangible, in every slightly shaky movement of his hand and hard swallow that amplified the pounding in his chest.

 _You know it's you babe  
Giving me the courage  
And the strength I need  
Please believe that it's true  
Babe, I love you_

The apartment had never felt so small and yet so totally disconnected from the rest of the world outside of it.

 _'Cause I'll be lonely without you  
And I'll need your love to see me through  
Please believe me  
My heart is in your hands  
'Cause I'll be missing you  
Babe, I love you  
Babe, I love you  
Oh, babe_

As the last strains of the song trailed off. She could finally feel him starting to relax. They broke apart and he looked at her. Without needing to look too hard, she could see that instant fear of the unknown in his eyes. "Um, I think maybe I should go…" Eric was hesitant, more like he was trying to convince himself than anything else.

Before he could brush passed her, she reached out and snagged his hand. "No." She firmly said and he stopped. "Stay."

"Stay?" He asked tepidly. "Like _stay_ stay?"

"Not like that." She answered. "I just want you here when I wake up tomorrow." It felt like she was out on a huge emotional limb here, praying that she didn't hear the branch creak.

He barely thought about it. "Yeah." He answered. "I think I'd like that, too."


	15. Lotta Love

She needed better windows. By four in the morning, she was usually up because her room got so cold. She could feel his arms around her. He was tense, his breathing was hard and irregular. Without looking over her shoulder she could tell he was awake. "Are you freaking out?" She whispered, almost to herself. Surely, not loud enough to be heard.

"A little." He sort of mumbled back. Of course he was up. All the signs were there. A part of her wondered if it had accidentally been him and not the cold of her bedroom that woke her up this morning. She looked over at the alarm clock radio that sat idly on the night stand next to her bed.

"Why?" She still didn't turn around in his arms. In her mind, a million options seemed to present themselves at the same time. If it was Michael or Steven, she's know what to do. She'd wiggle a little, her butt pressed up against the man behind her and that little physical reassurance would be enough to quiet their mind. But that seemed cheap here. This wasn't supposed to be that kind of night.

"I don't know." When she expected him to pull away here, he got tenser. He was actually holding her tighter. "I'm nervous. I've managed to screw everything else up since graduation. All I can hear is Red in my head telling me that I'm going to screw this up, too."

That wasn't something that she was used to. Steven needed to have his back up against a wall before he admitted that something really mattered to him. Nothing ever seemed to actually matter to Michael with the possible exception of his van. Eric had insecurities but, unlike his friends, he actually talked about them. "Did you ever think that if you put it in your head that you're going to screw something up, that's what screws it up?

"I don't know." Eric muttered into her hair. "I feel like a lot of the things that I've done since I've been back have been me trying to blow up my old life and I'm wondering if this is just a part of that."

For a second, she felt insulted. It was like he was admitting that whatever feelings he had for her weren't real. But the unease rattled around like a maraca in his chest, echoing out of his mouth with every word. He wasn't manipulative, he was lost. And even that description didn't feel good enough. She felt it when they looked at each other. When that innocent but appreciative glint in his eyes elicited one of the few genuine smiles that she had to offer lately.

Finally, she turned to face each other. "What are you actually worried about?" She knew he had specific worries. Deep down, there was a part of him that still reacted like the jumpy teenager that she'd always known.

"I've been friends with Hyde since we were like eight. I've actually been friends with Kelso longer. You're friends with Donna." Eric paused. "I'm not worried about what if we don't work. I'm worried about what if we do. There are things I want to change, but I don't want to lose everything."

Now, that made sense. That was Eric. Not that he was always seeking to make peace, although he did that, too. Just that he was a bit of a creature of habit. He could afford to be. Eric had bedrock in his life. The thought of giving that up, or even putting it in danger, would naturally scare the hell out of him. "You can't give people a say over the things that make you happy." She put a hand on his cheek. "What Steven thinks or what Donna thinks, honestly, I could care less. We don't even have to tell them, if you don't want to."

Suddenly, the conflict that she felt inside of him shifted. He no longer felt tense. "Listen, I know what they're going to say." He almost buried his chin in his chest. "We hate each other, right? We always have. They're going to think this is us trying to get back at them, that it's not real and it won't last."

"We've kissed five times." She smiled at him sleepily. "Once in my living room and four times in here before we went to bed. Maybe slow down the tape in your brain. Besides, you think that's terrifying? I'm over here stressing about what your mom is going to say."

That shut him up. It was like he hadn't even thought about Red and Kitty. Of course he knew that Red liked her. For whatever reason, Red always had. But he never thought that she had nerves. Say what you wanted to about Jackie, but after only Kelso she probably took the most burns of anyone in their group and she always stood up to them. Her shell of self-confidence always seemed plenty hard. "I don't think you have to worry about that."

"And I don't think you have to worry about what's keeping you awake." She flicked the end of his nose gently to tease him. As they exchanged smiles, her clock radio came on to let her know that it was 5:30.

 _It's gonna take a lotta love  
To change the way things are  
It's gonna take a lotta love  
Or we won't get too far_

She reached over to punch the snooze button on the alarm clock but before she could reach it, he pulled her in tight and gave her another quick kiss on the lips. Her lips peeled back in to a gentle smile. He had little glimpses of spontaneity that peaked through that otherwise heavily planned exterior. But he needed to be challenged for them to come out.

 _So if you look in my direction  
And we don't see eye to eye  
My heart needs protection, and so do I  
_

She finally caught the snooze button this time. They could use a little more sleep and there really wasn't much of a need to do anything until the parade this afternoon.

 **BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW**

The staging area for the Winter Carnival Parade was at one end of the main drag in Point Place, behind a gated off area in the parking lot of the Catholic Church across the street from the Viking Lodge. Eric wasn't allowed out of his dressing room, inside the Church, until the first few floats had left the staging area. No one was supposed to see Santa Claus. Being in the basement of a church with the boiler turned all the way up, made wearing the Santa suit an experience in slow cooking.

He had to hold off on having Jackie attach his moustache and beard until they were about to head outside. Over the last few weeks, he noticed that on particularly warm days at work, the sweat would loosen the costume adhesive on the beard in particular. On really warm or really busy days at the store, they'd have to swap out beards at lunch to avoid any accidents with Santa's beard falling into some poor kid's hands

Jackie stood there in kitchen in the basement of the church with Eric seated up on a counter. He looked humorously out-of-place. Santa Claus, without his beard seated between a cutting board and a double sink. "You look deep in thought." She smiled. "You know, before I started kissing you, I didn't know you did this much thinking."

He laughed and his shoulders shook. "I was flashing back to ten year-old Eric." He looked right into her eyes. "I'm watching him in my brain standing with my Mom and Dad waiting for Santa's float in this parade. I didn't think I'd be playing Santa before the seventies were over."

"Best Santa ever." Jackie stepped between his legs. "How excited was little Eric for this parade every year?"

"I used to feel like this was when I knew Christmas was really close. This and the Christmas specials like Rudolph or Little Drummer Boy." The smile on his face was sweet but sad. "It's gonna suck to go away to school next year, I think I'd do this again in a heartbeat."

"You've got a few months before that yet." Her voice dropped an octave. After last night, she'd be lying if she said that she hadn't thought about what would happen when he went to school. Madison was about an hour and a half from here. "I might still be able to play and elf next year?"

"As long as you get to keep the outfit." He arched his left eyebrow at her and she giggled.

"I thought I caught you sneaking a couple quick peaks the last couple weeks." She leaned up and gently placed a kiss on his lips.

"Now, what would some little kid think if they walked in here and saw Santa making out with one of his elves?" His voice gave off a gentle air of mocking.

"Eric, if you think this is 'making out' then we have to have a serious talk." She playfully whacked him on the shoulder. The door to the kitchen popped open and a parade planner stuck their head in.

"Fifteen minutes, Santa." He looked down at his clipboard. "If you wouldn't mind heading out to the float now."

"Alright, it's show time." Eric winked at Jackie. She reached over and picked the prosthetic moustache off the cutting board. This time, as she pressed the fake facial hair her fingertips could linger on his cheek as she sealed it down. No more did it feel like the kind of guilty impulse she could allow herself only for a few fleeting seconds here and there. When she pressed the beard along his jawline, she really took a few extra seconds. In an instant, she could make him look so old. But where he used to disappear into the costume a few days ago, she could now see him clearly. He took over the costume instead of disappearing into it.

"I've got to get out there." She gave him a quick hug. "They want your elves handing out candy canes along the parade route, Santa."

"Then I guess you have a job to do." Eric kissed her on the cheek and Jackie walked out of the church. The parking lot was mayhem. Everyone was running around making last minute alterations either to their float or their costume or their marching band. Jackie was searching for Santa's workshop. The floats were supposed to be arranged in the order of procession for the parade. That would put Santa's workshop at the back somewhere.

"You! Girl!" She heard a gruff male voice call down the aisle between the floats. She turned to see if someone was calling her. Right now, she was surrounded by a group of men dressed as nutcrackers, so it seemed likely. She turned toward the voice and pointed at herself. "Yes! You!"

A man in his early fifties with thinning hair and a near permanent scowl came hustling up to her. "Didn't you used to work for Christine St. George?"

"For like a month, a while ago." Jackie tried not to scoff at the name of her former boss.

"But you have on camera experience?" He double checked.

"Yes, I did a couple segments on the show." Jackie paused. "But, she fired me."

"Doesn't matter." He waved his hands. "My name is Ted Grant. I used to be the producer on Christine's show. Now I work for the CBS affiliate out of OshKosh. My live reporter that was supposed to be along the parade but she just sprained her ankle and busted her high heels on a patch of black ice. I need a replacement, you're it."

"I've got to be one of Santa's elves." Jackie pointed over in the general direction of where the parade float was.

"Point me at your supervisor." Ted replied. "I'll talk them into letting us have you for the afternoon." Jackie shrugged and led them over to where the float was supposed to be. Sure enough, Mrs. Wessler was there coordinating the activity. The elves were supposed to be walking alongside the float while Santa and Mrs. Claus stood and waved from Santa's sleigh. Jackie guided the man from Channel 8 over to Mrs. Wessler and tapped her on the shoulder.

"This man wants to speak with you." Jackie stepped to one side as Mrs. Wessler turned and came face to face with Ted Grant.

"Can I help you with something, sir? We're a little busy here." She made a mark on her clipboard. "Well?"

"My name's Ted Grant and I'm the News Director at Channel 8." The gruff journalist chomped on his cigar. "I just lost a reporter to a patch of black ice and I'd like to take your elf here. She's got some on-camera experience, we'll mic her up but she said she needs your permission."

With a look of resigned exasperation, Mrs. Wessler lowered her clipboard to her hip. For a few seconds, she stared at Jackie. The reality was that she could afford to spare Jackie this afternoon and Jackie had done the best to pick up the shifts when the other elves would call in sick or had a scheduling conflict. But after almost a month, she knew that she needed to have Jackie Burkhardt around to get the best out of her Santa Claus.

But she could also see the anticipation in the younger woman's eyes. "She has my blessing." Mrs Wessler pushed a smile to her lips and then headed back to final float preparations.

"Fantastic." Ted growled and he point Jackie over to where a camera man was standing by waiting for them. "We want you to walk along the parade route. There'll be a few different camera guys stationed along the way. Here's a list of the order for the floats, right around halfway through the parade, the Mayor is going to be marching with the local Rotary Club. He's scheduled to do a quick three minute interview, the questions are on the page behind the one listing the floats."

Ted lifted the page and showed Jackie the four prepared questions. She took a deep breath. "What do I do until then?"

"So, Lou and Susan are up in the broadcasting booth near the end of the parade route." Ted took the big, bulky headphones from his cameraman. "With these on, you'll be able to hear everything they're saying throughout the parade. Just listen for your name when they throw to you. When they do, just banter with them about what you're seeing. Lou or Susan will ask you questions, do your best to keep the conversation light and funny."

"I can do that." Jackie nodded as she slid the headphones on and gave her hair a toss.

"I sure hope so." Ted turned to the camera. "Use your radio and let the producer in the booth know the name of our new reporter, which is…"

"Jackie." Jackie looked up as she got used to the microphone. "Jackie Burkhardt."

"Right." Ted grunted. "Make sure they know that up in the booth." Ted pointed the stubby end of his cigar at the guy behind the camera. "Alright, kid, just try to keep up with Lou and Susan and smile a lot. This can be a real good gig and you should have some fun."

"Mr. Grant?" Jackie called after the rumpled figure in the trenchcoat.

"It's Ted, kid." He turned back to face her.

"Thank you for this." She smiled meekly at him. For a second, you could see it affect the old man. A simple smile touched with a little holiday emotion crossed his face. His gruff exterior seemed to cover for his sentimentality almost instantly. "Just pay attention to Lou and Susan in your ears. We're about to get started."

She nodded and cleared her throat. After a few seconds, she could hear the deep voice of Lou Adams ringing in her headphones. "Jackie, we're at our last commercial break before the start of the parade can you hear us down there?"

"I can, Lou." Jackie nodded and a slight terror ran up her spine. She was about to go on air. Like actually on air.

"Alright, I'm going to be the one throwing to most of your segments. Susan is going to throw to you when you interview the Mayor, though, okay." In the background of Lou's voice, she could hear the commotion in the broadcasting booth. "You're going to do fine, just remember to take deep breaths."

"Thanks." Jackie somewhat grimly answered back.

"Also, Ted says you're wearing and Elf costume." Lou added. "Make sure the camera can see it. It'll set the mood for the audience."

"Won't it make me seem unserious?" Jackie questioned.

"It's the Winter Carnival parade, that's fine." Lou chuckled into the microphone that was attached to his headset. Lou Adams was one of the most respected broadcasters in the state. He was one of the first black news anchors in the Midwest and the first in Wisconsin. His deep voice and raucous laugh made him a fixture on local TV, particularly around Christmas.

She took her jacket off and handed it to the cameraman who threw it over his shoulder. He put a hand to her ear and watched as the floats started to roll out on to the street behind her. In her ear, she could hear the dulcet tones of Lou Adams and the light, melodious voice of Susan Simons joined into welcome people in their living rooms all over suburban Wisconsin to the Point Place Winter Carnival.

"And we're pleased to bring you a new member of our Channel 8 Team, Jackie Burkhardt is along the parade route today, giving us the on the ground scoop on today's parade." Lou paused and Jackie took a quick breath. "Jackie, how does the parade look today?"

"It's going to be the longest ever for Point Place, Lou." Jackie answered. "This year we have a record 37 floats, 4 marching bands including the Point Place High Vikings and later on, we're going to have a very special visitor all the way from the North Pole."

"Oh that sounds like one heck of a party you have on your hands down there, Jackie. We'll check in with you later to see how things are shaping up." Susan Simons chimed in. "Welcome to the Channel 8 Team!"

With that, the cameraman lowered the camera and Jackie took another deep breath. "Well?" She asked him for a quick review.

"I think Ted's going to tell me the camera loves you." He answered with a grin and they started walking the parade route.


	16. Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'

He had exactly three more shifts left as Santa Claus. It seemed like, when he got the job, he was counting down to the Christmas season. Now, it felt like he was trying to do what he could to slow time down. This place was going to be madness tomorrow and Monday. The last two shopping days before Christmas made it almost impossible to park at the Mall. The part of him that had been going into work early since he got home was suddenly coming in handy.

The lines weren't as long. The people crashing into the Mall at the last moment weren't families as much as they had been earlier in December. As you got closer to Christmas, it was usually parents running into the store solo to pick up a few last minute gifts. There were still kids coming in, but not as many. That stretched out the days. It made the eight-to-ten hour shifts Eric was working seem longer.

"Hey Santa." Shelly Wessler came walking over to Santa's chair and leaned on the side of it. "When was the last time that you saw a kid today?"

"Must have been a half hour." Eric groaned and rolled his eyes. "I keep thinking your Mom is going to come out here and tell me that there's no point of having a Santa and I better stock shelves."

"Not likely." She laughed. "I can't see my Mom wanting kids to see Santa stocking shelves. "Especially not this close to Christmas. That was the one thing I never understood as a kid. What was Santa doing in a department store two days before Christmas Eve? Shouldn't he be reading that list and checking it twice?"

"I'm not sure it helps to actually make Santa, you know, logical." Eric grinned and shook his head. "Then we get into the eight flying reindeer thing."

"Yeah, well, I think you made this Christmas special for a lot of people." She gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder. "You were our own little Miracle on Main Street this month. With things slowing down, the layoffs out there, the gas price shock. This Christmas had the potential to really suck. But, I don't know, it's like you made people believe."

"You're not going to tell me that I made you believe in Santa Claus, are you?" Eric laughed as he shifted in his chair.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far." Shelly giggled. "But when my Mom told me that you won the GTO in the raffle, I couldn't think of anyone who deserved it more. What did you end up doing with it? I saw you're still driving the station wagon into work."

"I'm giving it to Red for Christmas." Eric answered as he saw a few families start to amble down the main aisle of the store toward Santa's workshop. "Right now, it's living in a visitor's parking spot at Jackie's apartment building."

The line started to form and Shelly stopped leaning on Santa's chair. "Well, it looks like we have some more visitors to Santa's workshop." Shelly stepped gracefully down the two steps that raised the workshop up off the store's floor. She pulled back the velvet rope that closed off the line when no one was standing in it. "And who might you be?"

"My name's Jerry." The little boy looked up at his image of Mrs. Clause with a shy smile. He boasted a mop of chestnut brown hair and couldn't have been more than six years old.

"And do you want to see Santa, Jerry?" Shelly bent down with her hands bracing her on her knees.

The young man nodded his head enthusiastically. Shelly took him by the hand and led him up to Santa. One thing that amazed Eric over the last month was how many parents would just hand their children over to another adult dressed up as Mrs. Clause or one of Santa's elves. As they got close to Santa, Shelly would grab the kids under their arms and hoist them up on to Santa's lap.

"Mrs. Clause tells me that your name is Jerry." Eric stated in his best Santa Clause baritone. "What brings you to Santa's workshop?"

"I wanted to thank you, Santa." The kid answered and Eric was instantly taken aback. Kids did not show up to Santa's workshop to thank Santa for things.

"Well, Jerry, you're quite the nice young boy." Eric gently pinched the young boy's cheek. "What are you thanking Santa for?"

"You brought my Dad home." The kid answered quietly. Eric wondered to himself for a second, and took a quick glance over at the line in front of Santa's workshop. He didn't notice it at first because it looked just like another overcoat. But when he took a second look at the boy's father's shoulders, he saw a couple silver button-like decorations on the shoulders. That's when he realized that the boy's father must be stationed at Fort McCoy.

At the same moment, the store's intercom system which played WFPP all the time now that they switched over to Christmas music 24/7, started to play Elvis' version of _I'll Be Home for Christmas_. It was hard not to get a little teary-eyed in a moment like that. But even as he felt a lump swell in his throat, Eric forced it down and tried to push the emotion he felt into the twinkle that Santa Claus was supposed to have in his eye.

"Well, it seems like you've been a really good boy this year, Jerry." Eric bounced the kid a couple times. "What can Santa bring you for Christmas now that your Daddy's home?"

"I guess I could use some new Hot Wheels." The kid stuck out his lower lip. At that, Eric let rip with his well-practiced Santa Claus laugh and gave the youngster a pat on the shoulder. He'd gotten practised at this over the last couple weeks. Now, he could tell just by looking over at the parents when the kids said what they wanted, whether it had already been purchased or not. It always changed how he responded as Santa.

"Jerry, I think Santa can make that work." Eric pushed his grin out about as far as his cheeks would go. Little Jerry flung himself at Eric and gave him a hug before jumping out of Santa's lap. One of the elves took the kid by the hand to get him a candy cane. Eric gave his knees a pat and let out a mighty Ho-Ho-Ho. "Mrs. Claus, can Santa see you for a second?" Eric pointed at Shelly who slowly came walking over to Santa's chair. She leaned over Eric so he could whisper in her ear. "Take a look." He pointed over at the emerging lineup.

Sure enough, almost to a one, they were the families of service people. He figured that a regiment based out of Fort McCoy must have been rotated home. "Now, that's Christmas." Eric whispered and Shelly couldn't help but smile. It wasn't the first time over the last few days that she'd felt a little envious of Jackie Burkhart.

 **BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW**

Jackie sat at a table in the Hub idly playing with her French Fries and staring down into a pool of ketchup. Unbeknownst to anyone, she had ended up driving to Oshkosh today to meet with Ted Grant about a job. Their station was revamping their morning show and they were looking for a new reporter for human interest stories. Her performance at the Winter Carnival parade had been enough to get her a job interview at the network.

The whole drive back, all she could think about was how much she aced that interview. It had gone about as well as she expected. She felt like she was guaranteed the job. It felt like, he future was now starting to move and it scared the hell out of her. It had been one thing to be an elf in Santa's Workshop, developing feelings for a long-time friend who was playing Santa Claus. It felt like she was going to be another one of those girls that never left Point Place.

And now, even with the possibility open, she wasn't sure she wanted to leave. She could still live here. It wasn't that far a drive into Oshkosh and as a field reporter, she wouldn't necessarily have to be in the studio every day. At least that's was Ted had told her today. The role they envisioned was someone who did the feel-good stories on Church soup kitchens, charity drives and cute animal stories.

Donna walked into the Hub and saw Jackie sitting by herself. That wasn't the Jackie Burkhart that she knew. Jackie never liked doing anything alone. She thought it made her look like a loser. But, there she sat just sort of dragging a fry through ketchup.

"Are you lost or something?" Donna walked up to the table and pulled the chair out. "I don't think I've ever seen you in here without one of the guys."

"Was the only place I could think of going to just think. Didn't want to go to the record store because I didn't want to run into Hyde. Didn't want to go home and sulk and the Forman's basement was out of the question." She popped the fry into her mouth. "Donna, I think I got a job today."

"Cool. Where?" Donna snaked one of Jackie's fries.

"Channel 8 up in Oshkosh." Jackie sucked air through her straw at the empty pop sitting on the table. "After what happened at the Winter Carnival last week, they wanted me to think about joining their new morning show as a human interest reporter?"

"So, you're going to be doing the County Fair and Carnival beat?" Donna peaked an eyebrow with her question. "That's cool. You always talked about wanting to be a weather girl, I guess this is a step, right?"

"I guess." Jackie shrugged. "I've just got a lot on my mind right now and it feels like everything is up in the air at the same time. It would just be nice to finish something, you know. Get it settled before you had to deal with the next thing."

"Oh my God!" Donna almost bounded out of her chair. "This is about a guy!"

"It is not." Jackie protested, though even she'd admit her protest lacked her usual edge. "I just was getting used to thinking about the rest of my life the one way and it all just changed."

"This is totally about a guy." Donna was smiling with anticipation. "Is it Fez? I mean, I know the two of you live together and I figured that something might happen."

"Ewwww, No" Jackie's look of revulsion was hard to disguise. "It's not Fez. How could you think that? Fez is so….so…so Fez."

"Well, who is it?" Donna nudged her. "It's not Hyde. Kelso's in Chicago. Is it some guy you work with at the store?"

"You could say that." Jackie demurred. She was hoping that a little bit of information would be enough to make Donna stop.

"So, who is it?" Donna kept pushing. "Are we going to get to meet him?"

"I don't think it's that serious yet." Jackie answered, still idly playing with her food.

"Oh, that makes sense. You just got a job that sounds like one you've wanted literally since I've known you and you're in here thinking about the guy that you're not serious about." Donna's tone was slightly mocking. "Come on, who is it?"

"It's none of your business." Jackie snapped. "I'm trying to figure out what's going on, okay? Making jokes isn't helping."

"I know, I'm sorry." Donna snuck another fry. "It's just, the only time that I've ever seen you this messed up by a guy was when you and Hyde were serious. So, I guess I'm just curious. Also, can't you take the job and see the guy? Why does it sound like you're trying to pick between the two?"

"I don't know, probably because every boyfriend I've ever had has cheated on me." The reality of that statement sunk in as it passed through her lips. "And as much as I want to think that this is different, I have no way of knowing that. And we'll be working in two different cities and…"

"And how long have you been seeing this guy?" Donna shot back. The way Jackie was talking, it sounded like things had gotten pretty serious. But she was sure she'd have heard about it if it had been going on that long.

"Um…" Jackie thought back to their first kiss as they twisted clumsily across the carpet of her apartment to Styx. "About a week. Maybe a little longer."

"Yeah, but you've known the guy for longer." Donna asserted. "I can just tell." There was a pause. "It IS Fez!"

"Is not." Jackie fired back.

"Is too!" Donna insisted. "There's literally no other way you'd be this hung up on someone that you'd known for a month."

In a way, Jackie was offended that Donna didn't even seem to be considering Eric. Was the idea of the two of them really so impossible to everyone that they knew? She wondered if Eric had a similar conversation with Steven. What would is reaction be? For now, the only protest she could offer would just grow in volume. "Is not!"

"Come on, it totally is." Donna's superior smile grew brighter. "It's Fez."

"It's Eric." Jackie shot back on impulse. And Donna's eyes nearly shot out of her head. It was in that second that Jackie realized that Donna, supposedly her best friend, really hadn't considered this possibility. She wondered why. Did Donna think Eric was always going to come back? Did she think the two of them hated each other in such a real way they'd never get past it?

She watched as Donna's lower lip trembled. The questions in her eyes seemed to shift back and forth between the human need for greater detail and a basic refusal to accept the new situation. "What?...How?" Donna sputtered. "Eric?" His name came out almost in a whisper.

In her mind there was a flashback to the scene that she witnessed from the Formans' driveway back at Thanksgiving. What at the time looked like suspicious, but harmless, playful fun now took on a different meaning in her mind. She thought about the two of them. The changes in their personalities over the last year had definitely made them more similar. Jackie had come down out of the clouds a bit. In a way, she'd been mugged by reality. Eric had come back from Africa more grounded and far more focused than he'd been when he left.

"I…I…how?" It was like the objection was caught in her throat. At one time she wanted to feel angry and knew she had no grounds to justify her anger. Was it Jackie's fault? But how could it be? After all, it had been months since she and Eric had broken up. Donna had even dated Randy in the interim. "Eric?" The simple question came again.

"Yes, Eric." This time Jackie decided to answer her. "He's such a good guy and he's such a sweet guy. And since he's been back, I don't know. It's like he knows what he wants. It's kind of nice to be on that list." But she didn't feel like she had a permanent spot on that list. After Steven, and especially Michael, she knew the impermanence of male affection.

"Yeah, I mean…" That was all Donna got out. "I think I've got to go."

 **BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW**

Eric pulled the Vista Cruiser into the driveway just in time to see Hyde sticking halfway out of the fridge that Red kept in the garage. "Hey, man, what are you doing out here? It's freezing." Eric slid out of the car and walked over to Hyde.

"It's the safest place for Red and I to keep the bourbon ever since his heart attack." Hyde wiggled the bottle at Eric before taking a swig out of it. "Gets cold enough out here that you don't even need ice." Hyde took a seat on the hood of the Cruiser. "Want a swig?" Hyde pointed the butt of the bottle at Eric.

"Sure." Eric spun the cap off the top and pushed the lip of it to his own. "Man, it doesn't even burn when it's that cold."

"I know. It's great." Hyde took the bottle back. "So, two more days as Santa Claus, huh?"

"You knew?" Eric almost fell off the hood.

"Of course I knew, man." Hyde took a swig. "How many times did you think you could come home smelling like pine needles and cinnamon before someone was going to clue in? Also, there were a few times that you came home with some leftover costume glue on your chin."

"Man, I can't keep a single secret in this house." Eric hung his head.

"Where's the dill-hole?" Rang over the hedge that separated the Forman House from the Pinciotti House. And both Eric and Hyde's heads bolted up. Donna came storming up the driveway. Eric slid off the hood.

"What's going on?" Eric came face-to-face with Donna.

"Since when are you dating Jackie?" Donna dove right into the argument.

"Dude, you're dating Jackie?" Hyde stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "A little friskiness going at Santa's workshop after hours?"

"You're okay with this?" Donna looked around Eric at Hyde. "And what the hell do you mean friskiness going on at Santa's workshop?"

"Forman knows what he's getting himself into." Hyde shrugged. "Also, he's been working as Santa Claus down at the department store. Jackie's been one of his elves."

"So, it's true." Donna folded her arms.

"Why do you care?" Hyde decided to intervene. "You're going to Marquette next month anyway."

"Yeah, well." A stream of uncried tears were hanging around in Donna's eyes. "I don't know, I just didn't expect things to change this fast."

The silence hung around between the three of them. In a lot of ways this felt like the last Christmas for a lot of things. It was definitely more than just the last Christmas of the Seventies.

"Tell me about it." Hyde was the first to interject. He popped Eric on the shoulder. "So, Santa, how long have you been messing around with the Elves."

"Shut up, man." Eric chuckled.

"About a week." Jackie came walking up the driveway, having left the Hub just after Donna did. She tucked in under Eric's one arm, taking a bit of a protective stance with him. "After all, everyone gets to fall in love with Santa at Christmastime." She gave him a gentle pat on the chest.

"Well, on that note." Hyde took another swig from the bottle. "I'm heading to bed. Store's going to be insane next two days."

"Yeah." Eric nodded. "Hey, I hope you can be happy about this." Eric gestured toward Donna as he gave Jackie a quick squeeze.

"Maybe in time." Donna answered. "Probably a good thing I'm headed to school soon." There was a sort of pulling apart as Eric and Jackie turned in toward the Formans' house and Donna headed back over to her house

Once inside, Eric and Jackie stood in the kitchen splitting a carton of egg nog. "How did you know she'd head over here?"

"Gut instinct." She answered. "I think if I was at risk of losing something I'd always been able to count on, I'd probably react the same way." There was another pause. "So, I interviewed for a job with Channel 8 today."

"That's great." Eric enthused. "Red said this was the first time he was able to watch the replay of the Winter Carnival parade on television without wanting to throw something at the set, so…."

"Guess I did a good job then." Jackie grinned. "It's up in Oshkosh and I was just worried what with this thing with us just getting started and you going to school…"

"Not until next fall." Eric answered. "We'll figure things out by then."

"I guess." She smiled genuinely. "Now, I just have to figure out what I'm doing for Christmas. Fez and I kind of have this Charlie Brown tree in our apartment. But it's not like what it was when I was a kid."

"Hey, I have an idea." Eric snapped his fingers. "I've got to go over to your place and get the GTO on Christmas Eve anyway. Why don't I come over and get it, we'll sneak you into the house and you can do Christmas over here?"

An awkward silence passed between them. On the one hand, she felt a kind of warmth that came from the natural almost nonchalant way he extended the invitation. On the other, was the mounting sense of expectations that she could feel from having to deal with Red and Kitty on a more regular and entirely different basis.

"And your parents are going to say what on Monday morning when they wake up and the two of us come walking downstairs?" Jackie thought this was the best way to attack the question.

"My mom loved having you over for Thanksgiving." Eric answered. "She talked about it for weeks."

"And Red?" Jackie peaked one eyebrow.

"Will be fine once he sees the GTO." Eric answered.

She took a deep breath. It was easily the best invitation she was going to get. But it felt like a lot. And she wasn't sure she was ready. But she knew that Christmas would be better with her Santa Claus than without him.

"Alright." She answered with a short, sweet smile. "Let's do it."


End file.
